The Calling of Destiny: New Beginnings
by LWKitty
Summary: A few months have passed since the girls found out that they would be the new Ronins. Secrets and lies seem to pop up around Rylea and the circumstances involving her mother's death. What will happen when the truth is found out? AU Sequel to TCOD COMPLETE
1. Prologue

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The Calling of Destiny: New Beginnings

Prologue

The evil pulsed and crackled in the air as a shadowed figure moved amongst the darkness that seemed to consume everything. A darkness so thick that it seemed like as if it were choking you sucking the very life from you. Not even the bravest of souls would venture where this figure happened to be deep in the heart of the demon dimension was the forbidden place. A place where only the dead and the strongest of the demon community lived or would even think to go to.

The figure moved stealthily against a wall, still cloaked in the shadows of its surroundings. After looking around for any other auras or signs of life that could give away the hiding spot of a demon, the figure emerged from the darkness that surrounded it keeping it out of sight. What little light there was cascaded across the person's face to illuminate his features. Steely blue eyes darted over the surroundings, doing one last sweep over the area to be certain that he hadn't missed anything. Now certain that he had not been followed or that any demon was around he stepped fully from his shadowy darkness.

Now standing in the dim light his features could plainly be made out. This man had short, dingy blond hair that was spiked and stuck out at weird angles. He was tall, at least 5'7 and was muscular not bulging out muscular, but he had some definition to him. Wearing an outfit that consisted of a black shirt, black jeans with a silver belt that appeared to have spikes on it; high collar red trench coat, black fingerless gloves and black boots he fit right in with the demon population fitting in wasn't his concern though.

He didn't have to pretend to fit in with the demons because he was one of them. A hybrid, half demon half human, that's what he was. That wasn't his concern tonight though. Tonight he was here to try and find the source of the new power he had sensed a few nights ago a power that seemed to be growing steadily stronger. He hoped that it wasn't what he though it was. Hoped it was just that he sensed something else and his mind just automatically started to think up elaborate things.

Smirking to himself he cautiously started his way down the dimly lit alleyway. His steely blue eyes darted back and forth between the shadows searching for anything that could give away the hiding place of a demon. A dark blur darted above him and he caught the glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye. Reaching over his shoulder he quickly unsheathed his large sword from his back and held it out in front of him. Silently he willed the silhouette to have just been a figment of his imagination, but something told him other wise.

With sword in hand he started back down the alleyway. _Look around and the get the hell back out. _He kept repeating to himself in his mind as he kept steadily making his way down the almost pitch black alleyway. Reaching the end of the alleyway he looked around trying to decide on which way he wanted to go. He froze suddenly. All the hairs on his neck started to stand on end as, what felt like, something breathing against his neck became apparent to him. Suddenly all his senses became heightened on full out red alert as the sensation of a presence behind him became clear.

The young man jumped away from the wall he had been standing by twisting around in mid air to land on his feet, facing the mouth of the alleyway he had just been standing in. Raising his sword to ready position he gritted his teeth and fixed his eyes on the dim blackness in front of him. Every muscle and nerve became ridged with the sense of a battle coming the adrenaline already starting to pump into his veins. His vision became sharper and he almost had to stop himself from smiling at how much he loved the feeling he got before he did battle.

Before he could get too wrapped up in it, the creature from the alleyway leaped out at him. The man parried the attack and stepped back. He had to force himself to not laugh out loud once he had figured out what was attacking him. The creature that stood before him was no more than a shadow demon a minion to other, higher-ranking demons like himself. The shadow demon was of no threat to him, he used demons of this kind as practice dummies in training. Its only real ability was to take the shape of a person's shadow; being able to take on a few of that person's abilities as its own then.

The shadow demon seemed to have got the message by the look on his face. Quietly it dissolved into the darkness and was gone once more. When it had disappeared, the young man eased from his fighting position and twirled his sword replacing it in the sheath on his back. Getting back to the task at hand he surveyed his surroundings. Deciding which way he wanted to go was harder than he had first thought.

His eyes darted to the left suddenly, now aware of a stronger presence than before with the shadow demon. This presence felt oddly familiar to him. His steely blue eyes narrowed into a glare as the energy he felt kept coming closer to him instead of leaving as he had wished it would. _Damn, now how am I supposed to find the source of that power? I can't now, that's for sure. I'll have to come back later. _Angered that his search had been interrupted by who ever the energy belonged to, the man walked over to the wall closest to him leaning back against it he became one with the shadows, darting off like a black blur away from the area.

A shadowed figure stood in the alleyway he had just left it seemed to be almost smiling in triumph as it turned and blended in with the shade around it.


	2. Chapter 1

The Calling of Destiny: New Beginnings

Chapter 1

The sounds of metal clashing against metal rang throughout the air as shouts and anguished protests followed, disturbing the stillness of the once quiet morning as the two trained. Ryo brought his katana blade he held in his right hand down in a killing arch aimed for his daughter who brought her own katana up to parry his attack. Twisting around she slashed at him in a futile attempt to win. Sweat dripped down her arms and the sides of her face, her movements making it evident she was growing tired. Ryo smirked inwardly as he dodged her attacks and then taking his katana blade came down on her with all his strength. Rylea brought up both of her own katanas in an effort to block his attacks it worked but with the strength he came at her with and the fact she was growing weary, it didn't help any. She lost her balance evidentially and fell to the ground flat on her back with her katanas falling to either side of her.

Ryo couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain at seeing his daughter fall like that, but quickly brushed it aside. "Get up Lea," he barked at her in a commanding voice, "we're not finished yet."

Rylea groaned in protest and stayed where she had fallen. Every muscle in her body was crying out in anger against her pushing them so hard. It hurt to move her pinkie let alone pick up her katanas and continue to spar with her father, the great Ryo of Wildfire. Ryo only frowned down at the poor girl. His leader instincts that told him she needed more practice replaced his fatherly instincts that told him to help her up and end it. "Rylea Marie, get up now," he commanded her sternly.

Rylea tried to open one very exhausted eye and glare at the dark haired, oriental man she called Dad, but couldn't get her glare 'look' right. Instead she mumbled out an angered, "Leave me alone!"

"This practice is not over yet," Ryo retorted, "now pick those katana blades up and get your butt moving!"

"Yeah, well my body says this practice is over so guess what, it is!" she threw back at him, raising her voice in outrage.

Ryo scowled at the pretty young girl who almost looked like a female carbon copy of himself lying on the ground. She was starting to get on his last nerve now. "Rylea," he said in a threatening tone.

"Dad," Rylea said back, her voice taking on the same threatening tone as his had.

Ryo twirled the katanas he held in his hands impatiently and placed them at his sides. He started to tap his right foot intolerantly, already feeling his temper bubbling up. "Rylea how are you supposed to learn anything I'm trying to teach you if you cop out at the first sign of pain?" he said slowly and calmly to her almost as if he were talking to a two year old who had just done something wrong and had gotten caught.

Rylea growled and sat up slowly, wincing in pain as her muscles protested to her moving them. "Well gee, I'm so sorry I'm such a disappointment to you, _Dad, _" she replied with sarcasm evident in her voice. "Gomen ne, sorry that I can't get my body to drag its self up off the ground and continue to learn what you have to teach me."

Ryo sighed and dropped his katana blades the fatherly instincts winning over his leader ones as it became evident that she wasn't going to get up. He walked over to her and knelt next to her to make sure she was ok, "You're not a disappointment to me, Lea. Gomen ne, are you ok?"

Rylea half laughed at his sudden mood swing, "Yeah, I think I'll make it and if I don't, make sure and get Rye back for all the times I couldn't," she replied jokingly to the man kneeling beside her.

Ryo smiled and brushed her unruly bangs from her face, "I'll try and remember to do that as I'm also trying to figure out how I'm supposed to go on living without you, jouchan."

Rylea laughed at his comment, "Oh, I'm sure you'll find a way."

"Come on," Ryo said with a smile as he placed his right arm around her waist to help her stand, "practice is over. I think what you need is some rest. We've being practicing for a while anyway."

"Oh yippy skippy," Rylea replied with fake enthusiasm, "I feel so happy that you deem me worthy of such a thing."

Ryo rolled his eyes to the sky as he helped his daughter back to the house, "Always so much sarcasm. That's all I ever get from you anymore."

Rylea grinned and wrapped both arms around her father in a tight hug, "That's jus 'cause I love ya, Dad."

Ryo chuckled at her actions as he smirked down at the dark haired girl who now was hugging him, "Yeah well, do you have to show it all the time?" he asked back wryly.

Rylea let her arms drop from the tight hug she had them in as she pondered his question, her tiger blue eyes slanting into a frown. "Well no, I guess I could be a rebellious, disrespectful fifteen year old instead. How bout that?" she challenged with a bright smile up at her father.

Ryo shook his head at her and put his arm around her shoulders as he walked with her back to the house, "And here all this time I already thought you were that, but you're not fifteen yet young lady."

"Hey!" she shouted, hitting him playfully in the chest, "Not funny Dad and I will be soon so ha."

Ryo chuckled and rubbed his chest where she had hit him, "And here I thought you were too tired to practice. I guess next time I won't let you off so easily," he threatened, smiling at the glare he got from her.

"Oh ha, ha," Rylea replied dryly, "very cute, Dad."

"I know," Ryo said, giving her shoulders a squeeze, "I thought I was too."

Rylea sighed audibly at her father, wincing next when her muscles started to cry out in pain then as they neared the house. Whiteblaze got up from his spot at the door where he lounged lazily as the two came walking up. One would have laughed at the sight of a tiger acting as a guard dog. The large tiger yawned and got up to slowly follow after them in to the house, stretching his arms and legs in the process.

Ryo shut the door after the tiger had trudged into the house then leaned against the now closed door to look up at his daughter who was now slowly making her way up the stairs, ouching and owing the whole way up. He chuckled softly to himself, cracking his neck as he walked into the living room where he found his son sprawled out on the couch.

Ryu lazily looked up at him briefly as he came in before going back to the tv and show he was watching, "Hey, so I take it the training went well?" he queried of his father who had now taken a seat in the Lay-z-boy.

"What was your first hint?" Ryo asked back.

Ryu shrugged disinterestedly, "Well, I guess when little miss priss went ouching and owing up the stairs."

Ryo chuckled at his son's comment, "Why can't you two just get along?"

Ryu scoffed at the thought, "I try to, but it's kind of hard when you're dealing with her. Not to mention there's that four year age difference too."

Ryo shook his head at him, it was the same lame excuse he always got from him. Deciding to let his son go on thinking what he wanted to he got up from his seat and started to make his way to his room. Along the way he passed the bathroom and could hear the water running, signifying that Rylea was now in the shower along with the sounds of her still ouching and owing. A pang of guilt hit him at hearing that, knowing that he was the reason for it cut him deep. He sighed inwardly and kept to his way to his room.

So many things had happened over the past few months. Now not only was Rylea turning fifteen and just that much closer to being an adult, but her and the other girls had been plagued with the responsibility of being the new Ronins. Ryo frowned at the thought as he remembered Leinto first appearing and telling him that his daughter was to be the new Wildfire. The idea of his daughter fighting in battles, in a war like he had was not setting too well with him still. He didn't like the idea at all and wouldn't even be letting her if he knew he had a choice, but the truth was he had no choice. None of them had a say or a choice in the matter. It was either let them fight or let the whole world end but why couldn't they fight? Why couldn't they just call upon the armors once more and fight this new evil? Why did the girls have to fight? Questions like these ran through the Ronins and his mind a lot. Questions that always seemed to have the same answer it was the girls' destiny. That answer didn't seem just or fair though. Nor did it put to rest any of their growing apprehension about the battle that was soon to come.

Ryo tried to put his concerns aside and think about something else as he walked into his room, closing the door behind him with a silent clicking sound. His eyes quietly scanned over the contents of his room. They then came to rest on a picture on his nightstand next to his bed. Picking the picture up he examined it more closely a small smile coming to his face at the remembrance of it. In the picture was himself standing next to an overjoyed Rylea in her gymnastics leotard. He had an arm around her shoulder while she made the 'V' sign for victory with her fingers a gold medal hung from her neck. The picture had been taken after her first gymnastics competition which she had taken first place gold medal in.

He smiled sadly at the picture, replacing it back on the nightstand. _How time flies. _Ryo unconsciously thought. Life for the Sanada family had been great until that one day that had changed the way they would live forever. Everything was as perfect as ones life can be and now it had been torn and shattered to pieces for the second time. He looked over at the face down picture on his nightstand picking the picture up hesitantly to look at it. A smiling Luna looked back at him from behind the glass over the photo.

Ryo sat down on his bed while still looking at the picture as he continued to let his mind run wild with thoughts. What was the point in trying to stop it? Just when everything seemed right and like he had finally found that perfect life it was all taken from him. He closed his eyes as the tears started to come and the memory of what he had come home to on that tragic day as well.

It had been just another normal day. He had gotten up and gone to work that day just like he had every day. Little had he know that this time when he kissed Luna good-bye that he really would be saying good-bye. As he left he had this sudden, nagging feeling that something bad was going to happen, but he shrugged the feeling off and left.

What he came home to he would never forget.

Ryo thought it odd that the front door was ajar, but dismissed it as maybe Ryu or Rylea had forgotten to close it all the way when they had run outside. Walking into the house he laid his car keys on the coffee table by the door same as always. Walking away from the door he was surprised when Rylea hadn't come running over and jumped into his arms like she always did then that feeling that something was wrong came back to him.

That feeling only grew stronger when he found no one in the living room and the tv on, almost seeming as if they had forgotten to turn it off in their haste to go somewhere. Turning from that room he hurriedly walked into the kitchen, now shouting to see if any one would answer no one did. Now frantic and full of worry he ran up the stairs to the second floor bedrooms and checked each room no one was there either. Running back down the stairs he went back outside to make sure that Luna's car was in the driveway and confirmed it was. Now passed the limit of being worried and baffled Ryo decided to walk to the back yard just to check, something was just pushing him in that direction.

What he would see here he was not prepared for.

Ryo's jaw dropped and his mind went blank at the sight in front of him. In the middle of the yard laid Luna in a puddle of her own blood and Ryo felt his own blood run cold at the sight before him. Finding his strength he forced himself to run to her, already fearing the worst though. Dropping to his knees next to her he surveyed her wounds and was elated to find that she still had a pulse, very weak, but still a pulse. Gently he cradled her head as he tried to get her into a half sitting up position. "Luna! Luna please honey wake up," he shouted to her in a shaky voice.

Luna moaned softly as she rolled her head to the side, trying her best to flutter her eyes open with whatever strength she could muster, "R-Ryo?"

Ryo thanked whatever God was in heaven that she was at least still conscious, "Yeah Luna, it's me," he softly replied back to her, brushing the strands of hair that fallen into her eyes away from her face.

Luna tried to open her eyes completely and focus them on her husband but seemed to be having a hard time doing that, "Rylea!" she suddenly shouted, coughing loudly afterwards blood streamed from her mouth in a thin line.

Ryo frowned and wiped the blood away with his hand, "What about Rylea, Luna? Where is she?" he asked her while searching through his jacket pocket for his cell phone.

Luna's eyes suddenly opened wide as if she had just found a new strength within her, "They took her," she got out slowly as she tried to look around as if searching for her, "I tried to stop them but-"

"Shh," Ryo said soothingly as he placed a finger against her lips to silence her, "we'll find her koibito. Don't worry," he dialed 911 and told the lady who answered to send an ambulance immediately. After giving her his address he hung up and set his cell phone down on the ground next to him.

Luna was starting to lose consciousness again and he could see it. She had to fight to keep her eyes open now. "You have to get Rylea, Ryo," she quietly told him.

Ryo caressed her cheek tenderly, "It's ok, we'll find her just hold on, Luna."

"Go and get her," Luna slurred out, now starting to slip back into unconsciousness.

"Luna I'm not going to leave you," he told her sternly, shaking her gently to keep her awake and with him, "stay with me, Luna."

"You have to save her, "she slowly and quietly repeated as her words faded off her eyes now starting to close as what little bit of strength she had left began to leave her.

"Luna," he said and shook her again, "stay with me. Don't go!"

The sounds of sirens in the not too far off distance became evident to him . Soon the bright flashing lights of the ambulance could be seen as people jumped out and rushed towards them. Ryo told them what he could and watched as they took her away. He wanted to go, but couldn't he had to find Rylea still. When he was certain she was in good hands and had watched them leave he turned around and whistled for his pet tiger. Ryo waited as the large white and black striped tiger came running to him from the woods surrounding his home.

Ryo crouched down in front of the large tiger when he stopped in front of him, "Where is Lea, blaze? Can you take me to her?" he asked his pet.

The tiger gave a roar and grabbed onto his jacket sleeve signaling he wanted Ryo to follow him. Ryo got the hint and took off after the tiger. His heart was pounding loudly in his ears and he had gone numb from shock. The only thing he could force his mind to focus on was finding his daughter now as he followed after the large house cat. Whiteblaze led the young man into the woods that surrounded the house, Ryo just numbly followed after him, not sure where the tiger was taking him. Soon the thicket of trees opened up into a small, woodless area and with it they found Rylea laying in the middle of the open area.

"Rylea!" he shouted to the little girl who made no response to his call as he ran to her aid.

Ryo ran to the poor girl, kneeling next to her he scooped her up into his arms. Rylea's face was oddly white, not the usual dark tan color it was supposed to be and her skin felt cold and clammy against his own. She now looked more like a lifeless china doll then an energetic four year old. "No," Ryo whispered out as he held the little girl close, hugging her tightly, "God please let her be alright. Please God," he repeated out loud as he cradled his daughter in his arms. Ryo opened his eyes suddenly and looked down at the little girl in his arms had she just moved or was that his imagination? "Rylea?" he said her name quietly, brushing her bangs from her face. "Rylea baby if you can hear me say something, koibito. Give Daddy some kind of sign angel."

As if to answer him Rylea groaned and stirred in response to his voice she shivered as if she were cold and latched her tiny hands onto his jacket. Ryo let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding. Taking his jacket off he wrapped it around the little girl in hopes it may warm her. Holding her close he got to his feet and made his way for the house where he could get to his car.

Reaching the hospital, Ryo jumped out of the car and rushed the bundle in his jacket inside. "Help! Somebody help me please!" he shouted frantically as he dashed into the lobby of the hospital.

The lady in a white uniform behind the receptionist's desk picked up a phone and called someone. Not even a minute later a man with blue hair wearing a doctor's lab coat came running up to him. Ryo recognized the man immediately, "Rowen! Oh thank God. Rowen you have to help her."

Rowen ran over to him and took the bundled child in his jacket from him, "What happened to her, Ryo?"

"I don't know," he responded helplessly, "she was like this when I found her."

A couple people came running over to him, now wheeling a gurdy over with them. Rowen laid Rylea down on it and took out a pocket light from his coat pocket shinning the light into the little girl's eyes one at time. "How long has she been unconscious like this?" he asked out of the blue.

"I don't know, Rowen," Ryo replied, his apprehension growing, "Is she ok?"

"I think so," Rowen responded before he started shouting out orders to the people who immediately obeyed them rolling Rylea and the gurdy away from Ryo.

Ryo watched as they slowly faded from sight down one of the hallways. When they were gone Rowen turned back to Ryo now looking like he had bad news. "Ryo there's something I need to tell you," he slowly and calmly started as he turned to face the dark haired man.

Little red flags went up in Ryo's mind. Something about the way he said it gave him the feeling he wasn't going to like what was coming next, "What is it, Rowen?" he asked hesitantly, fearing that he really didn't want to know what it was he had to tell him.

"You might want-"

"Just tell me, damn it, Rowen!" Ryo shouted at him, cutting Rowen off before he could finish what he was going to say.

Rowen took a deep breath before he continued. What he was going to say was not going to be easy, "Ryo, Luna was DOA when they brought her in."

Ryo blinked as his mind drew a blank as to what DOA meant. Somehow he knew he should though. "What the hell does DOA mean, Rowen?" he demanded, fear making him irate.

Rowen sighed as he ran a hand through his cerulean blue hair, "Ryo, DOA means dead on arrival. I'm really sorry buddy. There was nothing I could do for her."

Ryo went numb after hearing the words 'dead on arrival'. Everything else Rowen had said to him he hadn't even heard. Suddenly his legs felt too weak to sustain him, and he collapsed into a near by chair. She was dead? Luna was dead? Somehow that didn't seem possible then everything else Rowen had said came flooding into his mind. "There was nothing I could do for her," just kept repeating its self over and over again in his head. The words chilled him to the core.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and blindly looked up to see Rowen's face, "Are you going to be ok?" he heard Rowen ask him but it seemed like everything he said was from a far, echoing through some tunnel now.

"Yeah," he heard himself reply, "yes, just help Rylea, Rowen. Help my little girl."

Ryo watched Rowen nod and walk away from him. Everything felt so unreal like it was one bad dream that he was going to wake up from soon. At least that's what he kept telling himself anyway. He didn't want to believe that Luna was gone that she may actually be dead and so he shut down from everything. He went numb to the world and everything around him.

Ryo opened his eyes and sniffed back the unwanted tears angrily, not wanting to remember any more of that night. He was surprised to find tears on his cheeks and wiped them away. That had happened at least ten years ago, but he could still recall it as if it were that day all over again. It was funny how he could recall the bad, tragic things that had happened in his life so easily, but found it hard at times to recall the good times. Life was funny in that way, leaving the hardships imprinted in your memory while the good times seemed to fade away like a dream.

He took a deep breath and let it out shakily as he stood and replaced the picture he was still holding face down again on his nightstand. All he wanted to do was change his clothes, not remember bad memories from the past but memories are things you can't run from, hide or get rid of. Memories are what make a person's life, gives them a past and something to reflect on. Not all memories are things to reflect on though, but sometimes one most look back on the worst of times to understand what's coming in the near future.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Rowen Hashiba walked into his house from another emergency call from the hospital he worked at as a full time doctor, hanging his keys on the hooks by the door and taking his shoes off. He wiggled his toes after taking off his shoes, it being nice to let his feet air out after having them confined in his shoes for so long. Smiling, he walked over and greeted his wife Kiylee who sat on the couch with afghan spread over her lap and legs, watching the television in front of her. "Hey babe," he greeted her with a kiss and then asked innocently, "Have we lost any of the kids yet?"

Kiylee half laughed at her husband's joking about their kids as she smiled a greeting up at him, "Oh, you're a funny one."

Rowen plopped down next to her on the couch, placing his arm around her shoulders as he laid his legs out on the coffee table in front of him. "Who said I was being funny?" he retorted, trying to keep his voice low and playful.

Kiylee's response to him was a smack on the chest, "Rowen Hashiba that is not funny."

Rowen chuckled in mirth at his wife as he rubbed his chest where she had hit him before then smiling and hugging her, "Calm down Kiy, I was only joking."

Kiylee's not-so-convinced smirking face looked back up at him to show that she didn't appreciate his joking before then snuggling into his embrace anyway. Offering to share some of her blanket with him, the woman laid half of it over his lap before wrapping both arms around his middle and laid her head on his chest. "I'm glad you're home. I missed you," she said and cocked her head up at him with a growing smile slipping across her face.

"Oh you did, did you?" Rowen wryly replied with a smug smile down at her, trying to act as if he didn't really think she had. "And here I thought you'd be glad to get me out of the house."

An amused chuckle and smile light up Kiylee's face before she kissed him and replied, "Now why would you think a thing like that?"

Rowen chuckled in return and shrugged lightly, returning her kiss, "Oh I don't know, just the first thing that came to mind I guess."

Kiylee laughed at his sarcasm and wrapped her arms around his neck loosely, bringing his face down to meet hers now while her eyes locked onto his own. A smile spread over Rowen's face as he pulled her into his embrace, capturing her lips with his in a lingering kiss. Rona walked into the living room then, grinning when she noticed her parents and their activities on the couch. She shook her head at them and coughed loudly as she walked into the kitchen to gain her parents' attention.

Kiylee was the first one to pull away from the kiss and look up at her daughter with a lopsided grin, "Hey Rons, what cha up to?"

"The usual," Rona replied to her mother's question from the kitchen as she grabbed a can of pop from the fridge and came back out into the living room. Stopping at the back of the couch she asked then, "Has Lea called yet today?"

"I don't know," Kiylee said thoughtfully, tapping her bottom lip with her index finger in a pondering manner before then looking up at her husband and asking in a joking way, "Has my brother's daughter called our house today at all?"

Rowen took the bait and began to stroke his chin thoughtfully for a minute while pretending to ponder the question. "Hm," he said out loud finally, "no, I don't believe she has. Was she supposed to?"

Rona sighed at not only her parents' teasing but in what her mother's answer had been, "Yeah, she was. That absent-minded, big-mouth," she angrily replied and tapped her nails against the side of the pop can she held.

Rowen and Kiylee both chuckled at the sight of their level-headed daughter cursing her cousin out. Although not unusual to see where the two were concerned, it still struck them as funny whenever it happened. "Why don't you just call her, Rons? Ryo might have been training with her and she forgot," Kiylee pointedly suggested to her daughter.

"Yeah," Rona compiled finally with a nod of her head, "maybe you're right. I'll give her a ring later."

"Well, that's good to hear," Rowen put into the conversation and earned himself a pinch from Kiylee as a warning. While rubbing the area she had pinched he gave her a grin and said to his daughter, "Now before you go anywhere tonight Rona, I want to get some training in with you, ok?"

Rona stared dumbly at her father, really not sure as to why he wanted to train with her all of a sudden. "Isn't me training with Leinto four out of seven days a week good enough, Dad?" she asked him back.

"Well yeah, but there's things that Leinto hasn't taught you that I would like to. Is that all right with you?" Rowen responded to his daughter and looked over the back of the couch to give her that 'look' that meant the answer had better be yes.

"Yeah, I was just wondering, that's all," Rona replied with a light shrug then turned to leave the room and head back to her own that was down the hall to the right of the massive living room.

"Hey, you are going to the restaurant with us tonight aren't you, Rona?" Kiylee shouted after her daughter's fleeing form as the royal-blue-haired girl walked away to her room.

"Hai, mom," Rona shouted back before she closed the door to her room.

Kiylee turned from the hallway she was looking down now, to look back up at her husband, "You're worried about the upcoming battle, aren't you?" she asked him, her blue eyes showing concern and worry.

Rowen sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the couch as he felt the comings of another migraine starting. "Yeah, I'm worried sick about her. I'm actually afraid for her," he replied quietly with hidden malice for what he knew she would soon be having to do.

Kiylee frowned at her husband's words and gently ran her fingers through his hair soothingly, "Another headache, koibito?" she asked him sweetly with a frown.

Rowen let go of the bridge of his nose, wrapping that arm around Kiylee now and gently pulled her closer to him, "Yeah, but I'll survive," he replied with a wry smile down at her.

Kiylee wrapped her arms around his neck, letting them dangle behind him off the couch, "Well that's good to hear," she said and smiled, kissing him softly, "now what were you saying about our daughter?"

Rowen stared into Kiylee's deep blue eyes, feeling himself almost become lost in them. Kiylee, being Ryo's sister, shared some of the same physical features with him. One being she had the same jet black hair as Ryo did. Kiylee also had blue eyes, but they weren't as bright or vivid blue as Ryo's were. Hers were more of a deep, dark shade of blue. Those eyes were what first had attracted him to her. Of course, it was no secret that Kiylee was very beautiful anyone could have seen that, but it wasn't so much her looks but her personality that he loved most about her. She had over looked the fact he was a brainiac with a high I.Q. and had seen him for who he really was. That's what really had made him fall for her over seventeen years ago and had kept them together all that time. Rowen smiled lovingly at Kiylee his wife, lover, soul mate and best friend, as he thought to himself. "What was I saying?" he asked her with a bright, loving smile.

"What are you smiling about, mister?" Kiylee teasingly queried of him with a skeptical glare.

Rowen chuckled some and gently caressed her cheek, "Have I told you I love you today?"

Kiylee smiled at his question, "No, I don't think you have."

"Well I do," Rowen replied sincerely, "I love you, Kiylee."

Kiylee smiled brightly in return, "I love you too, Ro," she told him and then laid her head down on his shoulder, contently now snuggled close to the man she loved.

Rowen smiled down at his wife as he turned on the tv to watch some of the news he wrapped his arms around Kiylee while absent mindedly stroking her back as he focused on what the person on the tv was saying. Being a doctor at one of the busiest hospitals in the Japan area he never knew from one minute to the next when he would be called in because of that he wasn't home much and when he was home he liked to spend as much time with his wife and two kids as he could. Who wouldn't like to just spend time with their kids and the woman they love?  
-

Rylea staggered from the bathroom as a billow of stream trailed out of the door to the bathroom behind her. Limping slightly from the still pulled and sorely abused muscles that the hot water couldn't loosen, she slowly and ever so gently made her way to her room. The one thing she had on her mind when she opened the door to her room was how fast she could make it to her bed before her father went psycho on her again and made her train for another two hours. Quickly closing her bedroom door, she contemplated locking it for a minute before deciding not to in the end.

Hobbling over to her bed, she climbed in and didn't even bother with her hair that was still wet. _What's the point, it'll end up in the same style. _She thought tiredly as she laid down on her soft mattress on her stomach. Every muscle and nerve in her body ached to be left alone and just rest. Not bothering to argue with them Rylea gave in and quickly drifted off into never land or to sleep as most people call it.  
-

Ryo lay on his bed contemplating what he should do. It had been about a good hour since the water had been shut off in the bathroom and now all was silent. No yelling or arguing downstairs. No loud music being blasted through the walls, nothing but peaceful silence filled the house now. All was perfectly quiet in the Sanada house and that was a very rare thing to have. Deciding to at least make sure she was ok and see where everyone was, Ryo got up to exit his room. On his way to Rylea's room he peered over the second floor banister and could still see Ryu on the couch where he had been just one hour before; still watching the tv. Shaking his head at how lazy his son had become since graduating high school, he continued on his way down the hall to his daughter's room.

Coming to her door he knocked softly and waited for Rylea to invite him in. When she didn't, he decided to go ahead in anyway. Opening the door a crack he peered in cautiously and couldn't help but smile when he noticed where she was. Rylea was sprawled out on her bed with the covers tossed helter-skelter like over her. Her right arm hung off the bed while the left one lay across her stomach. Ryo shook his head and entered the room on silent feet as he walked over to her gently and placed her right arm on the bed, fixing the covers also so that they at least covered her. _She sleeps like I do. _He thought with a grin as he watched the dark haired child who lay on the bed sleeping soundly.

Rylea in turn to being rearranged now stirred and rolled over onto her right side, her pretty face contorting into a type of pinched frown. Ryo studied her for a minute or two, not sure if he should wake her or not. Deciding against it, he sat down next to her on the bed, careful as to not sit on her or wake her in any way. Not long after he had sat down on the edge of her bed then Rylea again stirred restlessly and rolled over. This time she moaned and mumbled something to herself that he couldn't quite make out.

Now intrigued and a little worried, Ryo sat and watched Rylea sleep waiting to see what she would do next. Rylea wasn't really the type to have nightmares. _Maybe I pushed her a little too hard today. _Ryo thought with a frown as he studied her. Rylea stirred restlessly again in her sleep, this time rolling to lie on her back. Ryo frowned and quietly watched her toss and turn, grumbling out things here or there that he could sometimes pick out as a 'no' or as 'leave me alone'. His frown only increased the more he watched and listened to her. He didn't understand what was going on or why she was mumbling those things; he'd never seen her act like that before. Yeah she was the tossing, heavy sleeper type but this didn't seem like just part of her sleeping routine.

Rylea made a whimpering sound before she rolled over again, aimlessly flailing her arms and legs as if she were trying to get away from some unseen being. She was now acting as if, in her dream, she were running or fighting someone or something that was trying to capture her. Ryo, finally having enough of watching his daughter struggle in some horrific dream, reached over and gently began to shake her. Rylea in turn just started swatting at him, trying to get away from him as she started shouting things in her terror seized state. Ryo frowned more and tried to grab her arms that were now trying to hit him, barely missing being knocked for a loop by one of her flailing arms. "Rylea, baby it's, Dad," he told her in hopes that it might jog her from her dream or at least make her stop fighting him, "Jouchan it's ok, it's me!"

Rylea's eyes snapped open at the sound of his voice while frantically searching the room to make sure that whatever was in her dream was not there now. Her arms froze in mid air and stayed there. Her breathing was now ragged and fast almost sounding like she had been running a marathon. Rylea's eyes came to rest on her father finally as tears she didn't understand sprang to them for no apparent reason. "Dad," she squeaked out while flinging herself into his arms and erupting into a waterfall of sobs.

Ryo blinked in perplexity at her actions. She'd gone from trying to get away from him to now acting as if something terrible at happened in her dream. Sighing to himself, Ryo resigned to do what he could to settle his obviously upset daughter down. He held her close in his arms and tried to reassure her that she was safe now. "Jouchan it's ok. I'm here baby, it's ok," he soothingly repeated to her quietly.

A soft knock came at her cracked bedroom door before Ryu walked into the room hesitantly raising one brown eyebrow at the sight before him. "What happened?" he asked, concern for his little sister evident in his voice.

Ryo could only shrug his shoulders as an answer he really didn't know himself. Ryu frowned with worry but continued with why he had come in the room in the first place. "Mr. Mishiro is on the phone," he told his father, his eyes locked on his sister as he spoke.

Ryo sighed but continued to hold Rylea, not even bothering to get up to take his phone call. "Tell him I'm busy right now and that I'll call him back later," he replied back to his son.

Ryu nodded his head in understanding of what he was to do and reluctantly turned from the two to go and give the message to the man on the phone. Ryo looked down at the girl in his arms when her sobs quieted to nothing more than hiccups and sniffles. Lifting her face up gently so that he could look at her, he wiped away the tears on her face and brushed back her unruly bangs that hung in her eyes. "Jouchan you ok?" he asked her with concern clearly in his voice, his vivid blue eyes showing how worried he was.

Rylea sniffed and wiped away the remainder of her tears with the back of her hands before replying to her father, "Yeah, I'm fine Otousan."

"You sure?" the expression on his face said that he didn't seem to think she was.

Rylea nodded her dark head and ran a shaky hand through her messy black-brown hair. Ryo frowned lightly at her actions; something told him that she wasn't telling him the whole truth. _She's keeping something from me. _He thought to himself with a frown as he continued to look over the distraught and shaken looking face of his daughter.

As if hearing the words he'd thought in his head aloud, Rylea answered, "I'm telling you the truth. I'm fine, Dad."

Ryo gaped at the girl who sat in front of him in odd confusion his mouth hung slightly open and one brow had already begun to roll up in question. _Did she just answer my thoughts? _Ryo asked himself in disbelief. Rylea looked up at him sharply as his second thought came to her and she then became aware of what she had done. Silently she cursed herself for not being more careful with answering what he had really spoken and just thought. "Rylea," Ryo started slowly in that unsure parenting way, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Rylea was quiet for a moment while she chewed on her bottom lip contemplating what she should say to him. _Nice going Rylea. Just had to answer his thoughts didn't you. Stupid, stupid, now he's never going to let this drop. _Ryo just kept a stern stare on her, waiting for an answer from his daughter. He wanted to think that it had just been his imagination, but something told him otherwise. She ended up not having to answer him though for at that moment Ryu came back in the room, interrupting her father's grilling.

Ryu looked between the two with a raised eyebrow before he spoke, "Sorry to interrupt, but Rona's on the phone, Lea."

Rylea silently praised her cousin for her bad timing as she quickly made her exit from the room her brother and father were in, narrowly escaping the grilling from her father. Ryu watched her leave, having to move out of her way so as to not be run over by the short girl and then turned quizzical eyes on his father. Ryo sighed in annoyance, "Don't ask," he simply stated to him and left it at that.

Ryu nodded his head back and forth in acknowledgement to what he had said, taking the point that his father was not in the mood to talk. "Ok, then I will be going now," he replied while sticking his hands down into the pockets of his jeans and walked back out of the room, leaving Ryo to his thoughts.  
-

"Watch what you're doing up there!" Kento bellowed up at the two workers who were standing on ladders and changing the bulbs in the lights that hung from the ceiling above him. He kept a watchful and keen eye on them, not really trusting that the workers knew what they were doing.

Keish stood off to the side of the ladders and workers, watching her father yell at the poor laborers who were only doing their jobs with slight humor. "Dad," she said as if she were scolding a child, "leave them alone to do what they get paid to do."

Kento looked over at his daughter and smiled sheepishly, "Oh all right, I'll try Keish."

Keish shook her ash-blue head at him and walked over to the large oriental man, "Dad you're stressing yourself out again. Come on, why don't you come spar with me and let Kayto deal with this? I think you owe me a re-match anyway," she stated to him, a smile forming on her lips as she lightly punched his arm.

Kento chuckled heartily at her, "All right, a re-match you say huh? Well I can't pass that up," he replied, setting the clipboard he had been holding down on one of the dining tables next to him.

Kento, along with Cye, owned a restaurant/club called _The Warriors Corner_. Cye supervised the cooking and food department while Kento had the responsibility of taking care of the business and music. _The Warriors Corner _had been open for eleven years now and was doing very well. It was a family eating place through the week and a teen hang out on the weekends Keish and the girls were regulars on the club nights. _The Warriors Corner _had ended up being their hang-out place, somewhere they would all meet up at on Saturday night. Just a place for them to all chill and hang out together. It was about the only time they had now to just do things together without having to think about or discuss the now looming destiny they all shared.

Kento took one last skeptical look at the workers before being pushed out the door by a very impatient Keish. Kento only laughed as he allowed his daughter to push him through the door and out of the restaurant. Kayto came into the main dining room of the restaurant; he was tall and muscular like his father with midnight blue hair. He shook his head as he watched his sister push his father out of the building and then turned back to the workers who were still trying to do what they had been called in to do.

The workers all gave one very big sigh of relief that he had left and continued on with their work, thankful they didn't have to listen to Kento's bellowing anymore. Kayto laughed aloud at their reactions before then picking up the clipboard Kento had left behind to resume where his father had left off.  
-

The sun was set low in the sky, already on its journey to the other side. Rylea watched the sun set from her bedroom window with a sense of delight. She enjoyed no, she _loved_ the night. Something about the dark angelic shadows and the moonlight as the only source of light awakened something primitive and dark within her. She felt more awake, more alive at night unlike most people who would much rather choose the sun over the sweet darkness. That's the way it had always been with her, though. Ever since she was a child she had always had a certain fascination for the way simple darkness could make things seem beautiful. Instead of being afraid of the dark as most children were, Rylea had no problem with it she never really saw the reason to. She guessed always feeling like you were one with the night could make you think like that.

Rylea turned from the window and headed for her closet, not even noticing the small predatory smile that came to her lips at the thought of night coming soon. Walking over to her large walk-in closet she surveyed the contents of it. "Now let's see here," Rylea thought aloud as she pondered over what she should wear, "What am I in the mood for tonight?"

Searching over the content's, she finally decided on low-rise hip huggers and a red tank that looked like it had been cut and then tied back together on the sides. Slipping the outfit on, she then stood in front of her full-length mirror. After looking over her outfit critically for a minute or two, she then nodded her head approvingly before walking away from the mirror she stared at her reflection for a while.

Vivid blue eyes stood out in contrast with her tanned skin and dark brown-black hair. That was the same, but what made her do a double take was the fact that something looked different about her appearance. Rylea had this more exotic, deadly beauty about her tonight a look that she had never noticed until that moment. _What is happening to me? _She thought to herself with almost a shiver of fear. Ever since the night the nightmares had started, she had been noticing little by little changes in herself not only in appearance, but in the way she thought and acted now, too. It was almost like something had been awakened inside her when the nightmares started something dark and cold. Something that she could feel deep inside her start to pace whenever the sun went down lurking just beneath the surface as if waiting for the right moment to reveal its self.

She sighed inwardly when thinking about the nightmare she had had today and how her father had been privy to it. The only reason she had escaped his grilling was because Rona had called her. _Saved by Rona. _She thought with a wry smile as she turned from the mirror and walked over to her dresser. She picked up her mother's silver pendant or good luck charm as Rylea called it and slipped it around her neck, letting it rest against her chest. Immediately, she felt a calm sense of security wash over her, chasing away the dark and lurking feelings she had. Rylea held the pendant in her hand for a moment and then let it go to drop back against her chest. _I always seem to feel better whenever I wear this thing...I wonder why? Maybe it's just because somehow Mom's with me when I wear it. _She smiled softly at the thought, pacifying herself with the reassurance.

Looking over the things on the top of her dresser, she picked up her gold arm band and placed it around her left arm, liking how the gold stood out against her dark skin. Walking to her door, she opened it and did one last scan over the contents of her room to make sure that she hadn't forgotten anything. Content that she had everything, Rylea walked out of her room and downstairs to meet up with her father and brother.  
-

"What could possibly be taking her so long?" Ryu fumed while tapping his foot impatiently on the kitchen floor.

Ryo just shook his head at his son's intolerant behavior while scanning through the messages on his cell, making sure he hadn't missed an important call while dealing with other issues. "Just chill, Rye. She'll be down in a minute," he told him calmly, calling him by his nickname.

Ryu scoffed and folded his arms over his chest, "Well she'd better," he replied testily, "how long does it take a person to change?"

"Well at least we know now why you don't have very many dates. You're too impatient to wait for them to get around and actually go," Rylea sarcastically remarked to her brother's complaining as she came around the corner and entered into the kitchen.

Ryu smirked and opened his mouth to reply to her comment when Ryo felt it pertinent to intervene at that moment before a fight could break out between the two. "One sarcastic, cruel, or otherwise unneeded comment out of either of the two of you to each other and neither of you will be going anywhere, got it?" Ryo told his children with a very stern glare showing that he meant what he had said.

Rylea stuck her tongue out at Ryu in a childish manner, who in turn glared at her. "Rylea Marie what did I just say?" Ryo asked her in that 'parenting' voice.

Rylea grinned sweetly at her father, "Dad you listed only verbal things I couldn't do. Sticking my tongue out at him was not verbal so I did nothing wrong," she informed him with almost an acidic sweetness.

Ryu's eyes widened at her words and Ryo shook his head in annoyance with his daughter and her attitude. "If I had half a brain, I would ground you," Ryo threatened with a stern point of his finger in her direction before sighing and adding, "but I don't. Rylea, get out in the car before I hurt you, child."

Rylea did as she had been told, grabbing her shoes that were by the door she threw them on and bolted out the door to the car. When she was gone, Ryo sighed and turned to his son, "Something's up with her. I just know it," he said while grabbing his car keys off the table. Ryu nodded mutely and followed his father outside to where his car was parked.

"I'll take my car and meet you two there alright, Dad?" he asked while walking towards his parked car, already intent on taking it whether he agreed to it or not.

Ryo caught on to what Ryu was doing by taking his car and nodded his head. "Yeah, alright. Drive safe and you had better be there, Rye," he replied with a stern point of his finger in Ryu's direction. Ryu laughed as he waved him off disinterestedly. Getting in his car, he started it and pulled out of the long dirt driveway with a squeal of tires and dirt deliberately to annoy his father.

Ryo shook his head as he watched him leave and then jumped three feet in the air when the sound of the car's horn blew loudly beside him. Looking in the window of his car, Ryo was met by a grinning Rylea. He smirked and opened the car door, "I swear sometimes I could strangle you, Rylea," he dryly remarked to her as he got in the vehicle.

Rylea only smiled innocently back at him, "But, if you did that, Otousan, then you would be committing murder and for that you would get the death penalty," she sweetly informed him while flashing a pearly white smile.

Ryo started the car and then looked over at his daughter with a smug smile as he backed out of the driveway. "But who would ever suspect such a loving and caring father like me could kill his own child?" he shot back mockingly to her.

"Anyone with half a brain," Rylea muttered under her breath.

"Rylea get real. Do you honestly think I would ever lay a hand on you?" Ryo asked his daughter while keeping his eyes on the road. She shrugged and reached over to turn on the radio. Ryo turned it off immediately after she had turned it on and had to listen to her screech of protest at his actions. "I want to talk to you about a few things if you don't mind," he told her with dry humor and a sideways glance.

Rylea sat back against the seat with an agitated huff, "I knew it! I knew there was a reason for him taking his own car," she exasperatedly huffed out while turning her face to look out the car window.

"Lea," Ryo started, changing his tone to a softer one, "Baby what's going on?"

Rylea kept her face turned away from him, her eyes were focused on the mirage of colors that flew by the window in an almost hypnotizing way. "Nothing," she muttered out, "Nothing is wrong and before you bring up the nightmare thing it was nothing, too."

Ryo smirked at her answer. He had already mildly been waiting for her to say that; he knew her a little better than she thought he did. Stopping at a red light, he turned to look at her, "Lea, come on; you know you can tell me anything," he prodded on, trying his best to get her to open up and talk to him. Rylea rolled her eyes in a bored fashion and fixed him with an annoyed expression. "Lea, I'm just trying to find out if everything's ok," Ryo continued at the look she gave him, "That was one bad nightmare you had, Jouchan."

"Green light!" Rylea happily exclaimed when the traffic light had turned to green and cars began to move once again.

Ryo turned his head back to focus on the road. With a sigh, he gave up trying to get anything out of his stubborn daughter; when she was in this state of mind it was no use in wasting his time and breath. Nothing he could say to her was going to make her open up to him and Ryo knew that. "There's a charity ball next Friday Lea and I want you to come to it with me," he said, changing the subject as they drove on.

Rylea gave a disgusted growl at the very thought of having to go. "Dad do I _have_ to?" she whined.

Ryo chuckled at her answer; he had expected he'd get that kind of reaction from her. "Lea, I don't see why you hate them so much. Everybody only has the nicest things to say about you," he replied with that I'm-trying-not-to-smile type look on his face.

Rylea huffed in disbelief at his reply, "Oh yeah, right. All they ever do is tell me how much I look like you and how adorable I am."

"While they pinch your adorable little cheeks and shake your whittle face around," Ryo added to her complaining, pinching her cheek and copying what they would do. Rylea growled and swatted his hand away while he only laughed at her antics.

"Not funny, Dad," she retorted while crossing her arms moodily over her chest, "keep your eyes on the road."

"Yes ma'am," Ryo grinned at her, knowing he had annoyed her and she mocked him in return. When you had a child like Rylea, sometimes all you could do was grin. "Come on, lighten up. I was only teasin', Lea," he told her and tried to reach over to ruffle her hair, but Rylea only batted at his hand and moved her head farther away from him. "Oh, so it's going to be like that, huh? You're gonna be like that, are you?" he exclaimed in fake anger while reaching over before she could move away and tickling her side.

"No! Stop it," Rylea chortled out while trying to scoot away from her father's hand.

Ryo grinned and stopped to resume his driving. "Come on, Lea. You're not going to go just because a few people comment on the fact you inherited my good looks?" he asked with slight humor and sarcasm; he was enjoying every minute of this.

Rylea looked at him with an 'oh-please', annoyed expression. Ryo only smiled more. "Ok, don't believe me? Those beautiful blue eyes that you always get compliments on all the time, you got from me. That dazzling smile is mine too and," he continued, ruffling her messy dark brown-black hair, "the hairstyle and even color is mine too. Face it, kiddo, they say you're a female version of me because you are."

"Yeah, yeah," she replied while waving him off, "you don't have to remind me."

"Why does that bother you so much, Lea?" he asked her with a glance over at her, "you don't like looking like your old man? I'm somewhat offended by that."

Rylea laughed at his fake sniffle and hurt face, shaking her head at how immature he could be at times. "No, Dad, I don't mind the fact that I'm cursed with your looks," she sarcastically replied grinning at the smirk she got from him, "It's the fact that they bring it up over and over again. It begins to sound a lot like a broken record, ya know?"

Ryo had to agree with his daughter. It did start to become annoying after a while; a person can only hear 'what a beautiful little girl. She looks just like her father,' so many times before it starts to get old. "Rylea, you're going to hear that for the rest of your life. Learn to deal with it, because you're coming, like it or not," he told her and his tone said that the conversation was over and she was going no matter what.

"You know what," Rylea drawled out while cocking her head to the side to look at her father, "Just one good time, I would love to pop you one. Jus' one good time," she stated to him while shaking one fist at him to emphasize her point.

Ryo chuckled wryly and cocked one dark eyebrow at his daughter, "Oh, aren't we getting testy?" he replied with fake shock, "Well, now that you've got that off your chest, you feel any better?"

Rylea smiled proudly at herself and exclaimed, "Yup!"

Ryo only shook his head in slight mirth at her actions, smiling at the fact that she was back to acting like her normal self again. When she had turned the radio on and went back to staring out the window, while singing along at times to a favorite song, he frowned in his own worried thoughts. _What is going on with you? What won't you tell me, Lea? I wish I knew how to make you open up to me hopefully, when you do, it's not too late. _Ryo's eyes slanted into a frown as he thought more, concern growing on his face. He glanced over at the girl next to him and then back at the road, keeping on his way to their destination.

Her father's worry filled thoughts flowed through Rylea's mind and that time she was certain that he hadn't spoken them aloud. Her eyes lowered as a sigh escaped her at what she'd, unbeknownst to Ryo, heard. _I wish I could tell you, Dad, but even I don't have a clue as to what is going on with me. _Turning her head to look out the car window once again as silence fell over the two, Rylea let the sounds of the music flow through her while watching the sights fly by.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The music boomed, echoing throughout the room as the disco lights bounced off the walls in eerie colors of orange, red, greens and blues. Kids of all ages crowded the dance floor as the DJ spun the music, changing it to songs that all the kids would dance to; some people hung off to the sides in their own little groups of people brake dancing or doing something to their own liking. The crowd was buzzing with kids, mostly teenagers, who had come to party. Every part of the dance floor and corners of the room were filled with teens talking, laughing and basically just enjoying themselves and their Saturday night. This was what club night at _The Warriors Corner_ was like.

While the kids partied on the dance floor, the adults sat at tables and chatted, keeping an eye on the kids around them for any signs of trouble or things going on that shouldn't have been. Among the adults who sat away from the crowd of hyped kids were five young men more aptly known as the Ronin Warriors or the fathers' of Rylea Rona Keish Kami and Heather, depending on who you asked. This was chill Saturday for the fathers. A time to grab a beer and kick back while your child tires themself out so you won't have to deal with them later. This had now become a pretty regular ritual for them bring your kid, let them run free for a while and you can relax while you forget you even had a child or two to begin with. It was the only way they could keep their sanity.

Ryo staggered over to the table his friends occupied and sat down in the open chair. Kento smiled knowingly and passed him a beer, "You look like you could use this, buddy," he said while sitting back in his chair and taking a swig of his own beer.

Ryo chuckled ruefully and took a drink of the beer Kento had passed him, "You have no idea," he replied and sat his bottle back down on the table.

"Tell us your problems, Ryo," Sage said as if he were a shrink and listened to people's problems for a living, "it's confession Saturday anyway."

Ryo chuckled at his statement as he took another swig of his beer, "Well my problems seem to revolve around, Lea." All the guys nodded their heads in sympathy at his problem they too had problems with their own daughters. "It's almost like lately she's been acting different at times," he continued with a light frown, "almost like she's a totally different person."

"What do you mean?" Rowen spoke up a little baffled by his statement.

"Like one minute she'll be her normal self and the next she's acting like a total stranger. Kind of like she has an evil twin or something," Ryo clarified for him while his frown increased more as he spoke.

"Maybe that's just her way of letting off stream or something. Plus we all know she has her father's famous bad temper," Cye commented logically with a sly grin in Ryo's direction.

"I don't have the slightest idea as to what 'famous temper' you're talking about, Cye," Ryo retorted with a smug smirk in his direction.

Cye sighed dramatically and swirled the liquid in his cup around as he talked, "Ok, Ryo, if you say so but we all know that you do have one." Becoming serious now he said, " Let me ask you something. Rylea tends to hold her emotions in, right?" At the nod he got from Ryo he continued, "Well, maybe her going off on people is her way of trying to reach out, to let you know that she needs help. However, she normally has a bad temper so I don't know why it's concerning you, Ryo."

The guys all blinked and just stared at Cye like he had just spoke a different language or something, surprised that he would be the one to come up with the logical explanation. Rowen chuckled and placed his arms behind his head as he sat back against the back of the booth they all sat at or around. "And here I thought I was the smart one," he said with dry humor, smirking over in the brunette's direction.

"Well, if you can understand what he said, Ryo, then your problems are solved," Sage commented, taking a drink of his margarita as he scanned over the dance floor.

Kento leaned back in his chair while placing one large arm on the tabletop, "But, if you're like me and have no idea what he just said then you're screwed," he put in and grinned at Cye who only glared back at him.

Ryo sighed and twirled his beer bottle absently as he thought over what all Cye had said to him, "I try to talk to her or ask her what's wrong but all she does is shoot me down. She won't tell me anything. It's like she's completely shut down to me when it comes to talking about what's bothering her," he replied, sounding a bit helpless at his situation.

"Ryo," Rowen spoke up now, "When Rylea's ready to talk to you, I'm sure she will. Right now she's just like the other four girls; confused, scared and probably a little freaked out by all this, even though she won't admit it."

"Rowen's right. Do you guys remember how we felt during our first real battle?" Sage asked, smiling sadly at the memory he'd brought up, "Even though we wouldn't admit it, we were scared out of our minds, not to mention we weren't much older than they are so we can actually relate to them in a way."

"Well thank you, Sage, once again for your wonderful words of wisdom and in sight," came the sarcastic remark from Kento right on cue who sat across from the blond. "Those Dr. Phil, self help books are you workin' for ya, I see. "

Sage glowered at Kento, but the oriental man just grinned back at him as if in way of saying you-can't-do-nothin'-to-me. Cye chuckled at his two friend's behavior, "Sage has a point though. We need to be there for them. They're going to need our help a lot more then they think."

Everyone nodded at his words in agreement as they clanked their glasses or beer bottles together in a salute and then they took a drink. All was silent for a minute as the five ex-Ronins thought silently to themselves before the silence was then interrupted by the sound of loud cheering and yelling over the blare of techno mixed with house music that blasted through the speakers set up next to and around the dance floor. All five men exchanged perplexed glances at each other before getting up to investigate what all the commotion was about. A large circle of people had appeared around the dance floor and the five had to respectfully push their way through the throng of kids until they could see what had everyone so hyped. Finally reaching the inner center of the circle, they got a look at what the commotion was about and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what they were cheering about.

Rylea, along with some guy who looked to be about her age, were out in the middle of the dance floor, having what appeared to be a dancing duel a battle between two dancers to see who was the better of the two. Rylea looked like she was having the time of her life while she did foot rocks and moved her body in fluid, music-video-worthy moves in time to the beat of the music that blasted through the speakers. The other guy was keeping up very well with her, matching her complicated moves with ones of his own. Both teenagers looked to be totally oblivious to the kids who had crowded around them, cheering them on and shouting words of encouragement. The ever-changing lights cast colored shadows over them and gave the two an eerie glow.

Rylea smiled brightly and almost seemed to be laughing while the other guy looked to be growing tired. The guy she was battling against did a few of his signature moves while Rylea crouched down low hitting the ground with the palm of her hand before coming back up to meet the guy face to face in a stand off, where the techno lights and music then stopped. More loud cheering and whistling followed as the two smiled at each other and tried to catch their breath again.

Ryo smiled proudly at his daughter; he could see why she had earned the title of 'dancing queen'. Kento laughed heartily and placed a companionable arm around Ryo's neck. "Now that was one hell of a show," he told him with a sly grin. Ryo shook his head at his friend who was obviously drunk or near to it.

"You can say that again, Kento," Ryo replied back with a grin.

"That," Kento started and pointed out at the two dancers who were still standing in the middle of the floor. "Was one _hell_ of a show."

Cye chuckled at the ash-blue haired man and patted him on the back with an all knowing smirk, "Don't even think about it, Kento. You are not going to try and get those two kids to do that every Saturday night just so that you can make money off it."

Kento laughed loudly at Cye's accusation, "Now, Cye, why would you think that I'd do that?"

"Because you'll do anything to earn a few bucks, Kento," Ryo added with a smirk at the man who still had his arm around his neck.

"Peh," Kento said and waved them off. "You guys don't know nothin." Ryo looked over at Cye who smirked in the same thought as he.

Rylea now exchanged a few sportsmanly words with the guy who had challenged her and lost before spying her father and uncles standing off in the circle of people who surrounded the dance floor she stood on. She smiled and walked over to him. "Were you watching? Did you see me? I whipped that guy _so_ bad! He never had a chance," she exclaimed happily once in hearing distance of her father while still trying to catch her breath from the dancing she had just done.

Ryo couldn't help but smile at her giddiness and chuckle in humor. "Hai, I saw you, Lea. You were great. I was actually amazed by you for once," he said and then had to dodge her wrath.

"Ha, ha, you're not funny, Dad," she informed him dryly with hands on her hips.

"Lea!" yelled Keish as she ran up to her friend, enveloping her in a big hug. She was wearing black jeans with gold fade stripes on the front and a gold halter. "Girl, you were on fire! You shoulda' seen the way you was kickin butt," she exclaimed happily to her and waved a hello to her uncles and father who stood by them.

Rylea laughed at the other girl's comment to her and put an arm around her friend. "You think so?" she shyly asked the hyper ash-blue haired girl.

"Fo' sho', girl!" Keish exclaimed and both girls laughed. The two continued to chat and Keish had her demonstrate how she had done one of her moves while their fathers could only look at them in wonderment while shrugging their shoulders. "Hey, where's Rona?" Rylea asked suddenly as she looked around at the people who had begun to congregate back to the dance floor, snapping from her dance lesson with Keish.

"I was wondering when you'd ask," came Rona's voice as she came up behind her cousin. She was wearing a denim mini with an off the shoulder blue turtleneck that set off the blue in her purple-blue eyes.

"There you are!" Rylea shouted while jumping on her much taller cousin and almost knocked her over.

"Gah, Lea!" Rona screeched and stumbled back in shock.

Rylea let go and smiled ruefully at her, "Sorry," she apologized, "Oh!" she shouted then as if something had just struck her and leaned pulled her cousin's head down to meet her level so as to whisper something that only she was supposed to hear.

Rowen looked over at Ryo with a raised eyebrow who just shrugged in the same thought. Rylea stepped back away from her when she was done and grinned with a wink. Rona's jaw dropped as a light blush rose to her cheeks and she had to blink several times before she could manage to say anything. "Really?" she managed to squeak out finally.

Rylea grinned even more and grabbed her hand to drag the much taller girl behind her, "Come on."

Rona held her ground sternly and didn't allow her shorter cousin to drag her though, "I don't know, Lea."

Rylea rolled her eyes to the sky at her, "Rons, come on! Stop being such a wuss."

"I will later, ok?" she told her, hoping to pacify her cousin.

"Fine," Rylea replied and then stuck her index finger threatenly in her face, "later and no backing out."

"Promise," Rona told her and held her hands up to show that she had no fingers crossed.

Keish laughed at the two cousins feuding, "Watching you two argue is pretty funny at times," she proclaimed with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Rylea replied with a wave of her hand in Keish's direction as if what she had said meant nothing to her. She grinned evilly as she noticed her father who was now busy talking to her uncle and winked at Keish and Rona, mouthing to them to watch her. "Hey Dad!" she shouted happily as she hopped in front of him suddenly, making him stumble back in surprise.

"Damnit, Lea. Why is it you always have to do that?" he asked her grumpily with a glare once he had regained his footing and had calmed his beating heart.

Rylea smiled sweetly at him as she clasped her hands behind her back and swayed from side to side, "Because it's funny," she replied simply to him as she looked around at the people as if she were searching for a certain someone. "Do you know where Rye is?"

"No, I haven't seen him," he replied and then added with a suspicious glare, "why do you want him?"

Rylea shrugged half heartedly, "No reason," she replied simply and then turned back to her two friends who were chatting behind her with a smile, "come on you guys, party time!"

Keish laughed, "That's my girl! Always up for a party."

"Just a minute," Ryo said as he grabbed onto her wrist as fast as he could to keep her from disappearing back out into the group of people, "I want you to at least eat something before you go back out there."

"But Dad-"

"Don't you 'but Dad' me, Rylea. You get something in that stomach of yours or you're going to be sitting with me and your uncles for the rest of the night, do I make myself clear?" he sternly told her while setting his vivid blue eyes into a narrow glare at her.

"Yes, ma'am," Rylea mocked with a grin and saluted him before then acting as if she had accidentally made a mistake and quickly reprimanded it with, "I mean sir."

Ryo smirked at her comment, knowing that she had meant to say it on purpose. "Always gotta get that last thing in, don't you? Get your butt moving," he said and gave her a light push in the direction of the table he and the guys were sitting at. Rylea glared at him over her shoulder, but continued to walk in the direction he had pointed her in. Rona and Keish looked at each other with a smile before following after them, deciding they'd just hang at the table with her until she was done.

Rylea plopped down in the booth with Keish and Rona taking a seat next to her. Ryo sat down next to his daughter while Rowen and Kento took a seat on either side of the four. Cye and Sage ended up taking the chairs that were pulled up to the booth. One of the waitresses came by, took the girls' orders and then left with a smile on her face. Rylea sat back against the booth and crossed her arms over her chest, "This is boring. Why can't I just go out there and then come back when the food's here?" she asked her father.

Ryo held his beer bottle in his left hand, absently fiddling with it his right arm lay across the back of the booth they occupied. "Because I don't want you to," he replied simply without even so much as glancing at her.

"That's not a reason," she protested smartly.

"It's reason enough for me, now drop it," he told her sternly.

Rylea growled but did as he had requested. Rona shook her head at her cousin; she was used to Rylea arguing with her father. Keish laughed, "You know, I don't think I've seen Miss Blondie or Kami here."

"Um, Kami's probably in the kitchen still helping out," Cye replied about the whereabouts of his daughter.

"And Heather's here," Sage added and motioned over his shoulder to the crowd of people behind them, "Somewhere anyway."

"I saw Heather. She was hanging with her group of friends," Rona spoke up into the conversation.

"Big surprise," Keish stated quietly under her breath.

"Aw man," Rylea whined now in protest, "Not the prep squad! You mean I have to deal with those half-minded, nitwits tonight?"

"Lea, just don't go around them and they won't bother you," Rona informed her cousin smartly from her spot next to Keish.

Rylea scoffed at the thought, "Easy for you to say, Rons, you hang with those airheads."

"Only because Heather's my friend," Rona retorted in her own defense.

"So, then, you're not denying that they're airheads?" Rylea asked with a grin back at her royal blue haired cousin.

Rona glared at the dark haired girl she was related to, "You know, you really bug me at times."

"Then why do you talk to me?" Rylea retorted mockingly.

"I'm not really sure," Rona replied sweetly. "Maybe because we're related."

Rylea smirked knowingly at her blue haired cousin, "I'm sure."

"Alright girls, enough," Ryo commanded as the waitress came back over with the food, sitting it down in front of them with a polite smile.

"Arigato," Rona said to the waitress who bowed politely and walked away.

"Yes, food!" Rylea proclaimed happily as she started to dig into her noodles and rice cakes.

Rona looked over at her cousin with a disgusted frown while Keish just laughed at her and ate her own food. "Think you could inhale the food any faster, Lea?" Rona asked her wryly with a smirk.

Rylea chuckled as she sucked a whole noodle in her mouth, "Prolly, wanna see?" she asked her back with a full mouth.

Rona wrinkled her nose in disgust at her cousin's table manners, "No, I think I'll pass thanks."

Rylea chewed her food while all the while smirking at her cousin. Keish laughed as she ate her own noodles, "Aw lighten up, Rona. Live a little," she told the blue haired genius.

Rowen chuckled at the glare Rona gave Keish. Ryo watched his daughter eat with a raised eyebrow before he then smirked at her. "In a hurry to go somewhere, Lea?" he asked her with slight humor evident in his voice and a cheery smile claiming his face.

Rylea took a bite of one of her rice cakes and glanced over at him, "No, why ever would you think that?"

Ryo shook his head innocently, "Oh, no reason," he replied to her, "Besides the fact that you're eating like your Uncle Kento."

"Hey," Kento protested at being used as an example.

Ryo held his hands up, "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

Rylea swallowed her food, "What's wrong with the way Uncle Kento eats?"

"Yeah," Kento piped up, "What's wrong with the way I eat?"

"Nothing, Kento," Sage told him with a shake of his blond head in mirth, "Nothing at all."

"Besides the fact that you basically inhale everything in sight that's food related nothing," Rowen added from his spot across from him, that innocent look claiming his face.

Kento glared at the blue haired man, "I do not, smurf."

"Could have fooled us," Ryo muttered under his breath.

"Hey, now, you got something to say, then say it so I can hear it!" Kento yelled angrily at the blacked haired man.

"I said," Ryo started with a mocking smile at Kento and then said slow and plain, "You could have fooled us."

Kento growled, "Ok that does it! Let's go;, you and me, 30 seconds, Ryo."

"Now, guys let's not do this. We're supposed to be setting an example for our kids remember?" Cye said, acting like the mediator once again by trying to stop a fight before it could happen.

Rylea, Keish, and Rona looked from one adult to the other, Keish and Rylea grinning from ear to ear while Rona looked nervous. "Yeah, now this is entertainment! Don't stop now you guys," Rylea said excitedly, dropping her chop sticks as her attention was now focused on her father and uncle instead of the food in front of her.

"I'm not going to fight him," Ryo announced, "He's drunk; it wouldn't even be fair."

"Don't you worry bout that, Pyro Boy. I can still see only one of your ugly face so I'm all good to go," Kento told him smugly.

Ryo glared at the large oriental man, "Pyro Boy?"

"Do I hear an echo?" Kento asked as he cupped a hand to his ear and then laughed as if finding what he said to be a hilarious joke.

"Ohh," Rylea and Keish chorused from the sidelines, enjoying the entertainment they now had.

"Don't encourage them," Rona scolded the two girls.

"Ryo, Kento, your kids are watching. Stop acting like immature adults," Rowen now told them sternly in way of helping Cye out.

"Stay outta this, papa smurf," the ash-blue haired man spat at Rowen before looking back at Ryo. "So what do ya' say, you game, Ryo?" Kento now taunted, a sly smirk set on his face in way of challenge.

Ryo smirked back at him in a challenging manner, "You think you're ready for the ass whooping you're about to endure?"

Kento laughed heartily at his threat as if thinking it was funny, "You ain't gonna lay one finger on me, ninja."

Rylea grinned and cheered them on, "Yeah! Kick his butt, Dad!"

"You can get 'em, Dad!" Keish shouted encouragement to her father.

Cye, Sage and Rowen exchanged worried glances with the new change of events between the two adults. "Do you see what you two have done? Look at this. You've got your children cheering you two on to a fight. You two are supposed to be the mature adults here and right now you sure aren't acting like ones," Cye scolded them as if he were reprimanding one of his kids.

Ryo and Kento looked over at Keish and Rylea who looked annoyed that they hadn't started fighting yet and both sighed in recognition to what the brunette male had said to them. "You're right, Cye," Ryo compiled, looking ashamed for his actions.

"Yeah," Kento added and dropped his eyes to the table.

"Nani? You guys aren't going to fight?" Rylea asked as she blinked in confusion.

"No, we're not going to fight, Rylea," Ryo told his daughter mockingly.

"But why not?" Keish asked, just as confused as Rylea was.

"Because we're adults and shouldn't be fighting in front of our kids," Kento replied to her.

Rylea huffed in annoyance, "Well, if you guys aren't going to fight, then I'm outta here," she said while hopping over her father and Uncle Rowen's laps to exit the booth.

"Ditto on that," Keish said as she did the same, following after the dark haired girl as she weaved into mass of people.

Rona sighed and followed after them, "Wait up you guys," she shouted as she ran to catch up with them.

Ryo smirked and took one of the rice cakes Rylea hadn't eaten off her plate taking a bite out of it, "Were we supposed to let them go like that?" he asked the others slyly as he chewed the food on one side of his mouth.

Sage shrugged his shoulders lightly, "Better them be out there than sitting here with us I guess."

"You two weren't really going to fight were you?" Rowen asked while giving the two a skeptical look.

Ryo and Kento looked at each other and smiled, "Nah," they both said and all five started laughing. Kento reached from across the table with one of his grins plastered across his face and gave Ryo a signature hand slap before all then began to talk and joke once again.  
-

The young hybrid with the steely blue eyes and blond hair walked slowly into the penthouse he shared with a few other demons all hybrids like himself. No one seemed to be home at the time and that was just fine with him. He was more of a loner type anyway, preferring to be by himself rather then be with a group of people. _Tonight must have been the gathering. _He thought to himself. _Old man Sirous had something important to tell all of us. _He let a smile spread across his face as he entered the room that was designated his. _Lucky me, I won't have to hear it._

"Sorry to pop your bubble, Tadin."

Tadin; that was his name. At least that's what everyone called him. Tadin turned wide steely blue eyes on the shadowy figure standing in his doorway. Deciding to remain quiet, he waited for the person to speak again. "We all missed you down at the meeting," the person spoke again, now stepping into the room his features could be made out. He was a tall man around 6'2 at least and well built. His long silver hair that he sometimes held back in a ponytail down his back stood out in contrast with his dark skin. His stern face and strong jaw along with his slate gray eyes gave him an almost menacing look a very powerful expression that most demons cowered to. "It was an all-demon meeting," he continued, "That means you were expected to show up."

"I didn't see the point in going," Tadin replied with irritation while turning from the man.

The man simply chuckled and allowed a smile at his reply, "I figured that much. Well, Tadin, you need to know what was said-"

"Sirous, I don't care," he snapped at the man with growing aggravation.

Sirous smiled again a cruel and almost chilling smile. The kind of smile that sends chills up your spine when you see it. "A new demon has awakened," he said knowing full well it would gain Tadin's attention.

Tadin turned around to face him, now intrigued, "Do we know who it is?"

Sirous smiled knowingly and walked closer to him his hands now behind his back as he talked. "We don't know 'who' exactly, but we have our suspicions."

Tadin kept his eyes glued to Sirous now. Somehow, he thought Sirous knew more then what he was telling him, "Care to fill me in on 'who' it might be?"

Sirous stopped his pacing and looked Tadin directly in the eyes now, "We don't know _who_. All we know is that the person is female."

Tadin didn't say anything now, all he did was watch the purebred with growing suspicion. Sirous was a purebred which meant he held command and power above Tadin who was only a hybrid. Sirous smiled and continued, "She is a female and I think right around your age. Well, if you were a human she'd be right around your age."

Tadin smirked at him, now slowly starting to understand what it was he was trying to say to him, "What does this have to do with me, Sirous?"

Sirous shrugged lightly, his hands still behind his back, "Oh, nothing I guess. It's just that there's a big reward out for whoever can find this new demon and bring her over to our side."

Tadin's smirk grew as he listened to Sirous' last statement, "I knew it. Let me guess, you want me to go and find this girl, am I right?"

Sirous smiled that same, cold smile at him. "That was the main idea," he replied and walked over to stand directly in front of Tadin, "You need to find this new demon and before anyone else can."

Tadin looked at Sirous with an unfaltering smile of amusement, "Any idea where I can find her?"

Sirous was quiet for a moment while he thought before he answered him, "Look for her in the Toyama area. I believe that's where the Supreme said they had felt the new power."

Tadin smirked at the mention of the Supreme. The Supreme were four of the purest of purebreds. All of their ancestors where purebreds and no outsiders, as they called them, had come into the bloodline. The Supreme controlled most of the demon race, except for the vampires who refused to take orders from _purebred scum, _as they liked to call them and had isolated themselves outside of their ruling power. "Say I find this girl, but she is of no use to us. What do I do then?" he asked Sirous, already figuring he knew what the answer was going to be. Purebreds, especially, hated the human race where as other demons tried to live amongst the humans without them knowing.

"Kill her," was Sirous' blunt answer. He turned and began to walk out of the room now, "Good luck finding her, Tadin."

Tadin smiled at the man's back as he watched the purebred walk away and grabbed his sword from its place on the display rack placing it in the sheath on his back he walked out of the room. "Luck? I was born lucky," he spoke out loud, "This girl will be mine."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rona Hashiba rolled her purple-blue eyes to the sky while she mentally cursed the day her cousin had been born. Heather, herself, and Rylea were supposed to all meet up at the food court in the Toyama mall before then going off to help Heather 'shop'. Well wonders never ceaseRylea hadn't shown up and now here was Rona, stuck with the preppy blond while she shopped. "I'm going to kill her, I swear I am," Rona grumbled to herself from behind gritted teeth, "She'd better have one heck of an explanation."

"What do you think of this, Rona?" Heather asked for about the hundredth time that day.

Rona looked over at the trendy top she was holding up. It was something she didn't like, but to be nice forced a smile anyway and a nod, "It's nice Heather." The blond smiled, seeming to have liked the response she had gotten from the royal-blue-haired girl.

After what seemed like an eternity, Heather had finally concluded her shopping for the day, walking out of the store at least ten pounds heavier than when she had gone in. Rona sighed in annoyance and began to walk ahead of the blond but, before Rona could get too far ahead of her, she suddenly found herself coming in contact with the floor. A searing pain racked her body and she let out a cry of agony. Heather ran over to her, checking to make sure she was ok. "Hey, you ok?" she asked her friend.

"Yeah," Rona replied weakly, "I'm fine."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you like that," Rona heard a male's voice she didn't recognize ask her. She looked up to find a very handsome guy who looked to be about her age or not that much older with steely blue eyes and a very weird dingy blond hairstyle gazing down at her with a frown pinching at his forehead. Rona blinked a few times to make sure that she wasn't seeing things when the man was still there she knew he was real.

"It's ok, no harm done," she replied with a nervous smile to him.

"Good, here let me help you up," the man said and offered his hand to her.

Rona took his hand, blushing slightly and allowed him to help her up. An electric shock ran through her hand and up her arm when she touched his skin a shock that made her think twice about who this guy was. She let go of his hand immediately after she was on her feet again and rubbed the hand against the side of her leg trying to get rid of the tingling feeling that was still there.

Heather took one look at the young blond male in front of them and instantly let her flirting skills take over. "Hi," she said with a flirty smile and tossed her soft golden blond hair over her shoulder, "I don't believe I've seen the likes of you around here before. What's your name?"

The blond man looked over at her and smiled briefly. "Tadin," he replied.

"Well, Tadin, I'm Date Heather and this is," she told him and then pointed to Rona, "Hashiba Rona."

"Konnichiwa," Rona said politely to him, still uncertain as to if he was human or if it had been a static shock she had gotten from him.

"So, what school do you go to? Do you live around here?" Heather asked him, now in full out flirt mode.

Tadin smiled at her, he sensed some kind of power from these two girls and decided it might be best to stick around them. "I'm not sure yet," he replied with an easy smile towards Heather, "I just moved here."

"Oh," Heather said and lifted one blond eyebrow at him. "Well my friend and I go to Han'a JuniorHigh. You might want to check it out," she added with a wink at him.

"I think I just might have to do that," Tadin replied while keeping that same cool smile on his face. This girl was trying to playfully flirt with him, but was coming off as way too desperate anyway and he found it funny in some way.

"Yes, well, we must be going now. It was nice to meet you, Tadin. Hope to see you around some time. Ja ne!" Rona hurriedly got out in a rush as she began to push her friend away from the guy.

Heather protested loudly against being pushed away, "Rona, _what_ is your problem?"

"We need to get going. Remember we have that _thing_ to do?" Rona implied to her while narrowing her purple-blue eyes at the blond.

"What thing? What are you talking about?" Heather asked, thoroughly annoyed now by her.

"Just come on!" Rona shouted and dragged the still protesting Heather along behind her.

Tadin smiled more as he watched the taller, blue haired girl drag the shorter, blond haired girl away in a hurried fashion. "I'll definitely be seeing you girls later," he said with a sly smirk and then disappeared into a shimmer of air from the hall in the mall.  
-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

A tanned arm came out from under the covers before the hand then crashed down on the chirping alarm clock. When the beeping didn't stop, a sleepy head then popped out and glared at the alarm clock before the hand once again came crashing down on the thing until it had stopped chirping its psychotic melody. With the room now back in tranquil silence, the girl covered her head up and rolled over to her side to once again fall back to sleep. A knock came at her door, but she ignored it hoping that whoever it was would get the hint and go away. Instead, the person did the exact opposite and came in.

Ryo popped his head into the room. Seeing that his daughter was still in bed, he then opened the door fully to walk in. The first thing he noticed as he walked into the room was the now destroyed alarm clock that sat on her nightstand, blinking a steady 12:00 in defeat. Ryo chuckled to himself as he shook his head. _Third one this week. I've got to get the ones that are made from heavy duty metal or something, _he thought to himself wryly. "Lea, Jouchan, you have to get up," he said as he cautiously walked over to her bed, careful as to not trip over the clothes and various other items that littered her bedroom floor.

A groan came from under the covers and he knew she was at least somewhat awake. "Come on Lea, get up sweetie. Save me from having to carry you into the bathroom again," Ryo pleaded with his temperamental daughter, shaking her gently as he did so to try and bring her back to the land of the living.

Rylea whined and tried to bat him away tiredly from under the covers. "Leaf me lone," she slurred out sleepily.

Ryo frowned and shook her again, "Come on, get up."

Rylea growled and threw the covers from over her head while trying to focus her eyes into a glare at her stunned father. "Just leave me alone!" she yelled at him in a mad furry.

Ryo eyed his daughter while a frown creased his forehead. "Rylea..." was all he could manage to say to her. He stared at the girl in front of him, the girl who was now looking like she could and _would_ like to kill him. Looking now directly into Rylea's china blue eyes, Ryo could have sworn he saw something there. Something dark and evil something pacing, longing to get out. A cold chill ran down his spine the more he looked into her eyes, but that something was gone when she blinked. Now all he could see was the same vivid blue eyes he'd looked into for the last fifteen years. Whatever he had seen was gone, masked behind her bright blue eyes once again.

Rylea sighed and shakily ran a hand through her messy dark brown-black hair. _What is wrong with me?_ She asked her self. "Gomen ne, Otousan," Rylea said quietly, refusing to look at him now. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you like that."

Ryo didn't know what to say. His mind was still reeling over what he had seen and felt just a moment ago. _What was that? Am I seeing things now? Am I going crazy? _Blinking to clear his thoughts, he forced a smile at Rylea and acted like it was no big deal. "It's ok, Lea. We all know you're not a morning person," he replied and patted her knee softly as he got up to leave the room.

Rylea stared at her father's back as he walked for her door. She was now worried about him; he was acting strange and she had thought she'd heard his thoughts not liking what she had heard from him. "Dad?" she waited for him to 'hm' her and turn around before she continued, "Are you ok?"

Ryo gave her a genuine smile to reassure her that he was just fine. "Hai, I'm fine, Lea," he answered and then turned back to the door. "You'd better get up or you're going to be late though," he finished before then leaving the room.

Rylea sighed; she knew he wasn't. The way he forced his smile and talked to her gave that away. _What did you see that got you so upset, Dad? What is going on with me?_ She sighed again before deciding to get up to get dressed. Her father had a point: she was going to be late, yet again, for another one of Leinto's great training sessions. The girl groaned at the thought of having to listen to another one of his long drawn out speeches about responsibility and such as she got around.  
-

Leinto stood in front of four out of the five girls he was charge over. Four out of the five had shown up and now, here he was, waiting for the fifth to show up yet again. He looked over at the four young girls that he had been working with for a little over three months now. Leinto felt a certain amount of responsibility and love towards these girls and had found that at times he could act like a father towards them.

In the three short months that he had been charge over them, Leinto had gotten to know each girl very well and was glad that he didn't have to put up with Keish and Rylea but for three short hours five out of seven days a week. He held much respect for their fathers, who had to deal with them on a regular basis. He loved them as if they were his own, but would also love to strangle them at times, especially Rylea lately, more often than the others, for some reason.

Leinto had noticed an attitude change from her over the three month period a very bad attitude change. She hadn't had the best attitude to begin with, but now, the more he thought about it, she had become worse. She arrived late, like today, at least three days out of the five they met; she back-talked him constantly; she was very sarcastic even more than was usual for her; and, now,  
she was snapping or going off on anyone at any time.

Leinto frowned while he thought more about her sudden mood swings. _Even the other girls are starting to notice her mood swings and bad behavior, _he thought to himself. _Maybe I should bring this to Ryo's attention? Somehow I have this sinking feeling that there's something wrong with her more than what I'm seeing._ Leinto stopped his thoughts when he saw her form coming over the hill and walking towards them. He wasn't positive yet, but was pretty sure she was a telepath. If his accusations turned out to be true then he didn't want her to hear his musings.

Leinto cleared his throat and glanced over at the girl when she had made her way to the rest of the girls. Immediately, he got chills when he looked at her. That look in her eyes reminded him of something, but he couldn't put his finger on what. "A little late today, Rylea?" he asked her, keeping his tone calm and conversational.

Rylea shrugged half-heartedly, brushing it off like it was no big deal. "Alarm clock broke, so I got up late," she replied and the other girls snickered or rolled their eyes at her reply, knowing full well what had really happened.

Leinto frowned inwardly, but kept his facial features on the outside calm. That other, almost demonic side of her was back again he could tell by the way her eyes looked clouded and held a far away feel to them. Her mannerisms and voice were another dead give away. Leinto would have to keep a close eye on her while she was with him today. "Well, make sure you fix it or get a new one," he told her and left it at that.

"Sure thing," Rylea replied cheerily and then strolled over to stand next to her cousin and Keish. The ash-blue haired girl grinned and gave her a low five behind her back when Rylea stopped beside her, making Rona roll her eyes at the two and their behavior.

Looking now over at her cousin, Rylea asked with a cheery voice, "So how did things go with that guy from the club?" Rona in turn gave her cousin a look that said all she needed to know about it. "Not so good I take it," she said with a cringe and then brightened up and patted the blue haired teen on the back. "No worries, I'll find that special guy for you sooner or later."

Keish broke out into a fit of coughs while Rona only glared more at her cousin; Rylea in turn gave the girl a big, pearly white smile in way of response to her glare and then began to laugh herself. "Rylea!" Leinto's booming voice shouted and the coughing, laughter ended immediately. Snapping to face forward, the girls were met with the sight of the charges glaring gaze focused on them.

"Knock off the foolishness," he stated sternly, pointing to Rylea in way of showing who he was directing it to. "Or you'll be standing next to me for the remainder of the training session."

Rylea saluted him while saying, "Yes, sir."

Satisfied with her now, Leinto then stepped closer to the group of five young girls, using his staff for support slightly as he walked. "Today," he started in a loud enough voice for them to all hear him, "We are going to work on subarmor and possibly get to elemental powers today as well."

"Elemental powers?" Kami repeated as if not hearing him right and then glanced over at the other girls with an unsure look.

"Yes, all of you have a unique basic power along with an elemental, magical power," he clarified further for her, "We're going to be working on the elemental powers and save the unique basic powers for another time."

"Man this is boring shit. When do we get to put on our armors and really fight?" Keish asked and folded her arms over her chest with a look that said she wasn't interested in elemental anything. She seemed more interested in crushing something rather than learning anything.

Leinto smiled at Keish; he had expected she'd say something like that, "You can't master the armor until you have mastered the other power that rests within you all." At the raised eyebrows and mystified expressions he got from all of them he continued on, "Your subarmors are only one part to the armor. You need to master your elemental and basic powers before you can put on the armors."

"So then, how are we supposed to learn these "necessary" powers?" Heather asked in her usual, why-do-I-have-to-be-here type attitude.

"Better question: what do you mean by basic powers and what are our basic powers?" Rona spoke up, sounding like a mature teenager and got a sneer from Heather in return for it. Rylea gave Heather a glare from where she stood beside her cousin and the blond turned her head back to look at the charge without another word said.

Leinto allowed himself a light smile in Rona's direction. He could always count on her to ask the good questions. "Your basic powers we will learn as we go on. I have an idea what some of yours are already though," he said and glanced over in Rylea's direction. He frowned deeply when she appeared to be in her own little world, not even paying attention to him at all. "The first thing I want you all to learn is how to use your elemental powers. They may come in handy if you don't have your armors and are attacked."

With that said, the aging charge then reached into a pouch on his side, pulling his hand back out and producing five seemingly ordinary necklaces; then walked over to Kami. The petite brunette eyed him skeptically, really not sure as to what he was doing. Leinto took one of the necklaces from the five in his hand and held it up in front of her. "Water," he said and placed the silver chain around her neck. A blue wave that seemed to be swirling and crashing lay softly against her chest now.

He then moved onto the next girl. Heather looked at him with a slight frown pinching at her features, somewhat intrigued by what she was about to receive from him. Leinto smiled softly at her expression before then taking another necklace from the group. "Lightning," he said to her and placed the silver chain around her neck. A gray storm cloud with a gold lightning bolt that seemed to shift and change colors lay against her chest.

Moving on to the next girl, he now looked at Keish and smirked. "Earth," he spoke to her. Taking another necklace from the now smaller group he placed the silver chain around her neck. A silver rock with tanish brown earth beneath it dangled from the silver chain, the rock shimmered and the earth shifted colors.

Taking the last two necklaces in his hands Leinto moved onto the last two girls of the group. Taking a silver chain from the last two, he placed the necklace around Rona's neck. A swirling and churning white-gray funnel hung from the chain. "Air," he pronounced to her.

Looking over at the last one, Rylea, he then turned from Rona and stepped over to the hotheaded leader. Leinto took the last necklace and placed it around her neck where it came to rest next to her pendant. At the end of the silver chain hung a crackling, shifting and swirling flame of red and orange fire. "Fire," he said to her.

Stepping back from the five girls, he examined each necklace that seemed to glow and come to life for a brief moment before returning to its crashing, shifting, shimmering, swirling or crackling state. "These necklaces represent your individual elemental powers. They will help you to bring forth and use those powers," Leinto said and looked at each girl in turn, "Never take them off. They are not to leave your necks under any circumstances, understand?"

Each girl nodded her head in understanding and then went to work at examining the new treasure they had been given all of them except for Rylea who just stood where she was, arms crossed and staring off into space as if she were thinking about something really hard. Rona turned to her cousin, obviously excited about what she had been given. "Hey, Lea what do-" she stopped mid sentence and frowned, waving a hand in front of her cousin's face. Rona was concerned when Rylea didn't so much as even blink in response. "Lea? Earth to, Lea, come in, Lea," Rona said to her and snapped her fingers in Rylea's face.

Rylea came out of her stupor with a jerk back into reality. "Huh? Nani?" she stuttered while blinking several times.

Rona frowned slightly at her cousin as she asked, "You ok?" And then smirked while teasing, "Were you day-dreaming again, Lea?"

Rylea smiled brightly and placed her hands behind her head, "Maybe, why do you care?"

"I don't," Rona replied dryly, "It's just that you were staring pretty hard off into space."

Rylea shrugged lightly while keeping her hands behind her head, "So I found that happy place and wanted to make sure I stayed there. Gotta have some place to go to when you're at one of Leinto's training sessions. "

Rona couldn't help but laugh at her immature cousin. She liked her cousin a lot more when she was being immature than acting like a cold hearted bitch which she had been doing a lot of lately. "Ok, Lea, but you might want to try and focus a little more," she lectured her hardheaded cousin with a point of her finger.

Rylea took her hands from behind her head and simply waved the royal-blue-haired girl off, "Yeah, yeah, when pigs fly, Rona." Rona smirked and gave Rylea a playful shove as a reply to her comment. Rylea in turn grinned and pushed her back and before they knew it, both girls were laughing and pushing each other.

"Girls!" Leinto shouted to gain their attention when he had noticed the game of 'shove', "Playtime later, work-time now."

Rona and Rylea both giggled and gave each other one last shove before stopping to listen to him. Leinto sighed, but continued with what he had to teach them. The time was drawing closer; he could feel it and these girls were not even close to being ready for what was coming. He cleared his throat and commanded, "I need all of you to put on your subarmor."

"Why?" Rylea asked while placing her hand on her hip in a cocky manner.

Leinto willed himself to keep from hurting her as he said as calmly as he could, "Just because I told you to, that's why."

"I don't know," Rylea teased and looked over at Keish, "You think that's a good enough reason?"

Keish laughed, playing into her little scheme and folded her arms over her chest while saying, "Depends on what he wants us to do next."

Kami sighed , "Grow up you two."

"Grow up?" Rylea repeated and pretended to be shocked by her statement, "Why would we want to do that?"

The brunette in turn sighed and shook her head at how difficult the leader of the group made things at times. Keish then laughed and wrapped an arm around the petite girls' shoulders while saying, "Lighten up, Kami. It's ok to have fun."

"Yeah, you've been hanging around _Heather_ too much. You're starting to sound like her too," Rylea told her, knowing that it went enrage the blond.

Heather glared menacingly at the dark brown-black haired leader, "And just _what_ is that supposed to mean?"

"It means-"

Rona clamped her hand firmly over her cousin's big mouth before an argument could break out between the two girls. "It means nothing, Heather. Just ignore her," Rona replied for Rylea who grumbled in protest for the girl speaking up for her.

Heather smirked arrogantly at Rylea, "That's what I thought."

Rylea glared daggers at the blond and tried to shout things at her that only came out as muffled sounds thanks to Rona's hand over her mouth. Leinto sighed at the group of girls and looked up at the sky to say, "Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this kind of torture?" He now glanced back at the arguing teenagers; his patience with them was wearing thin. "Alright, that's enough!"

The girls stopped and stared at Leinto, who wasn't looking very happy at the moment. "We have things to do, now stop this foolishness and get to work," he ordered them and more specifically pointed out one girl as he said, "Rylea, so help me, if you don't get it in check I will be forced to tell your father."

Rona let go of Rylea's mouth then and took one giant step away from her as if she had caught poison ivy. Rylea gasped dramatically and held her hand up to her mouth, "No, you wouldn't tell my, Dad would you? You can't! Oh, please don't!" she pleaded in fake fear and then laughed as she watched his face grow redder with anger at her.

Leinto shook his head now as he watched the young leader joke with the young Hardrock wielder not taking any of this seriously. _Give me strength, _he asked and then tried to get the rowdy girls to settle down and listen to him. Getting them to actually do what he needed them to do was not an easy task for the charge.  
-

Rylea walked into the two story, three bedroom house that she had lived in her entire life from the meeting with Leinto. She closed the door and then collapsed against it; all of a sudden she felt weak and dizzy. Rylea winced and closed her eyes against the pain that seemed to consume her whole body, an intense, almost burning sensation that swept over her like a wildfire. Her head was pounding and her body now ached from the inside out. Her strength was leaving her and she could feel it.

Panic seized Rylea whole at what was going on; the fear making her heart seem to pound loudly in her ears. One thing ran through her now fear-gripped mind: to find her Dad. Getting her now aching and throbbing body to focus on her target, she forced her legs to move in the direction her father usually was; in a slow, staggered pace. A wave of dizziness washed over her and she had to grab onto the door handle with one hand while placing her other hand against the wall to steady herself again. "Dad!" she croaked out, but got no reply.

Trying to move away from the door again, this time she managed to take only three steps before her world started to swirl before her eyes and Rylea had to grab onto whatever she could to keep her balance. "Daddy!" she cried out once again, now beginning to panic more. Again no reply came from him.

Now scared and not understanding what was happening to her or where her father was, Rylea gritted her teeth and told herself to at least make it to the front room. Pushing herself away from the wall, the girl tried her best to stagger into the room. That was as far as she got before everything started to swirl together and go black. Her strength finally gave out and she collapsed onto the front room floor.  
-

Ryo and Ryu pulled up to the house later that night and were surprised to find the house completely dark. A sinking feeling of dread rushed over Ryo and he suddenly had this horrible feeling that something bad had happened to his daughter. Almost as if knowing what was going through his father's mind, Ryu looked over at him from the driver's side of his car and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"Maybe she went to Rona's," he suggested lightly and got out of the vehicle.

Both men exited the automobile and walked up the front steps to the dark and seemingly deserted house. Ryu glanced over at his father with a puzzled look when he found the door unlocked and Ryo's frown only deepened at it. The memory of him finding the door ajar that fatal night hit him with an odd amount of reality to what was happening to him now. Ryo now had a sinking feeling that something bad had happened after all.

Opening it, Ryu went in, flipping the switch next to the door and light filled the hallway. Ryo came in after him and couldn't seem to shake that feeling of dread; something about all of this didn't settle well with him. Ryu went in the direction of the front room while Ryo went to the kitchen, flipping lights on here and there as he went so he could see.

"Dad!" came the audibly trembling shout from Ryu what seemed like only seconds later. Ryo turned from the kitchen and sprinted for the front room where he knew his son had gone. However, he wasn't really prepared for what he was going to find there.

Coming into the front room, he was met by the sight of his daughter lying unconscious on the floor while his son knelt next to her, checking to make sure she had a pulse and was still breathing. As soon as Ryo could make his legs work again, he was springing into action. "My gods, Lea!" he found himself saying while making his way to her and then was kneeling beside her. "Ryu, call 911! Do it, now!" Ryo ordered his son who quickly got up to follow out his directions.

Ryo then gently scooped his unconscious daughter up, cradling her in his arms. "Lea, Lea baby wake up!" he shouted at her, his voice was trembling now as fear took a hold of him. "Oh Gods, please, Lea don't do this to me now."

Ryu came rushing back in, talking to a dispatcher on the phone. He checked Rylea's pulse and a few other things while answering the person on the other end. Ryo didn't even hear him now; everything was starting to become fuzzy to him. It was almost like someone had hit the slow motion button on a remote and he was stuck in it. He was reliving a nightmare that had happened so long ago. The last thing Ryo remembered hearing was Ryu saying that an ambulance was on its way before he went numb to the world.  
-

**A/N:** Oh my, what happened to Rylea? I guess you'll just have to wait to find out. Ok I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed this. Rogue, Harry, Firestorm, Jallana and Sifirela, thank you all. Ok, this is to Harry since he keeps insisting I tell him what happened to Mia. (clears throat) I, myself, personally, can not stand Mia. That is why she is not in this fic and I try to keep her out of my other fics as much as possible. If it will make you feel better I can maybe have them mention her once or twice in the fic. Will that make you feel better Harry?


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Ok, I just now realized I didn't have a disclaimer up on any of these chaps. Opps! Ok, well here's the disclaimer before people start suing me. (clears throat) I, Kitty, do not own any of the Ronin characters what so ever. They belong to Sunrise and their creators. I do, however, own the girls, the sons, Leinto, Tadin, Sirous and any other unfamiliar character that ends up here. There, now no one sue me!

**Chapter 5**

Rowen's pager started beeping, so he took it off the clip on his pants to look at it. He frowned suddenly and got up from his seat on the couch. Kiylee, Kyle and Rona looked up at him; confused as to what had been on the pager.

"Hospital again, Dad?" Kyle asked from where he lounged on the couch.

"Yeah," Rowen replied while throwing his shoes on and grabbing his car keys from the hook by the door, "We have a comatose victim coming in."

Rona glanced up at her father from the books that surrounded her. She didn't know why, but for some reason she'd had a bad feeling ever since she had said good-bye to her cousin almost five hours ago and now that feeling had just took a dive for the worse. "Dad, can I come with you?" she asked him with great urgency.

"Huh," Rowen replied, taken back by her request, "Rona, why do you need to come?"

"Because," she said while searching for the right way to say it, "I just have this bad feeling and I need to."

"Rona-"

"Please, Dad?" Rona pleaded with him and got up from her spot by the pile of work she still had yet to do to walk over to him, "Please, Dad, I need to come along."

Rowen looked over to Kiylee now who shrugged in the same thought. "Just take her with you, Ro," she told her husband.

Rowen sighed but compiled to her request, "Ok, come on, Rona, but you have to stay out from under foot, wakatta?"

Rona nodded firmly in understanding and threw her shoes on as quickly as she could, "Hai," she replied and then followed him out the door.  
-

While running into the hospital the last thing Rowen Hashiba had ever expected to see was his niece being wheeled into the hospital on a stretcher while nurses and emt's talked over her about what was wrong. Springing into action, Rowen ran over to the gurdy to start asking questions and then began to shout out orders that were immediately followed out by the nurses.

He took a pocket light from one of the nurses standing beside him and opened one of her eyes, shining the light in her eye to see if the pupil reacted. When there was no visible reaction, he knew that she was indeed comatose. Next, he looked her over to see if he could find any kind of trauma to the head that could have caused her current state. Not finding any, he frowned and then glanced her over again.

Rylea's skin had a pale complexion to it, oddly unusal for the girl whose skin was usally a dark tan color. Her pale complexion suggested that she was pallor, which also meant that she was suffering from anemia. Coming to the conclusion that she was indeed, anemic, Rowen shouted for them to put her on an oxygen mask and immediately begin a blood transfusion.

The nurses, following the orders given to them by the doctor, then turned from Rowen and began to wheel Rylea away to a room that had already been set up for her. Rowen watched them leave before then turning to the emt's that were still standing there.

"Anything you can tell me about her?" he asked them.

"Father said they weren't home when it happend. We tried to rouse her, but the girl was unresponsive for us. We figured, though, by her pallor complexion that she was suffering from anemia, but couldn't find any cuts on her to back that up," the emt standing to the right of Rowen spoke up as he adjusted the navy jacket with the patches on the front and upper arm showing which hospital he worked for.

The second man now spoke up, "You know just about as much as we do. The father and brother had no clue as to what had happened to her and we couldn't get her to wake up and tell us."

Rowen nodded his head to the men, "Arigatou."

Rona now came up behind him, her eyes wide with fear and she looked near to tears. "Was that... Was that..." she couldn't even finish her sentence.

Rowen took his daughter firmly by the shoulders, "Rona, I need you to do me a big favor and find your Uncle Ryo and Ryu if he's here with him. Can you do that, sweetie?" he asked her sternly, but yet as softly as he could without traumatizing her more.

Rona nodded weakly, forcing herself to tear her eyes away from the hallway they had taken her cousin down to walk in the opposite direction. Rowen looked after his daughter until she was halfway down the hall before he then turned and went in the direction the nurses had rolled Rylea.

Rona walked into the lobby of the hospital, her eyes already searching for the familiar faces of her uncle and cousin. She spotted her cousin leaning against the wall where her uncle sat in one of the chairs. His head was in his hands and his shoulders were slumped in a defeated, lost way. Rona walked over to them, every step to her seemed to be slowed and weighed down. Somehow the distance between them and her seemed to be getting longer instead of shorter like it should have been. It was almost as if she were in some nightmare where no matter how much you tried to get to your destination, you never could.

Ryu noticed her walking towards them and straightened, uncrossing his legs from in front of him in the process. "Rona?" he said, making Ryo's head come up from his hands.

Suddenly the distance didn't seem so long anymore to her; now Rona was right in front of them. Rona caught a glimpse of the expression on her uncle's face and her heart sunk; he looked so lost and confused. "I ah... I saw ah..." she stuttered out while hot tears came to her eyes again. This time she couldn't blink them back though, instead they came tumbling down her cheeks. "I saw Lea," she choked out before her throat tightened on her and she couldn't bring herself to say anything else.

Ryo gently pulled his niece into his lap, trying to comfort the upset girl while she cried into his chest. Ryu looked down at his cousin and felt bad for her remembering when he had been in her very same situation at one point in time. Haunting memories of a night he had tried so hard to forget came crashing back to him as Ryu stood in that waiting room. His own crying voice echoed in his ears now, drowning out the sounds of the hospital and other worried families sitting around them. Ryu squeezed his eyes shut now in hopes of somehow freeing himself from the torment he was enduring. The stale, almost heavy air in the waiting room seemed to bear down on him, sealing him in his nightmare.

Rona continued to cry though as her Uncle Ryo tried to console her and try to keep himself from breaking down into tears. He'd been battling both physically and mentally to keep his tears and own horrible memories at bay, not wanting to break down or give in to them. Finally, he looked up at Ryu with a somber face to say, "Call your aunt Kiylee and have her come down here. I might need her."

Being given an exit out of the mental anguish he was being put through, Ryu nodded solemnly to his father and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before then escaping to make the phone call to his aunt. Ryo watched him walk off before looking down at Rona who had reduced her crying to sniffling now. He smiled lightly and looked off in no general direction to keep his mind busy.

"Uncle Ryo?" he heard Rona say quietly.

"Hm?" was his mumbled reply as he looked back down at his niece who was still hugging him tightly.

"Lea's going to be ok ... Right?"

Ryo didn't reply right away; he simply continued to soothingly rub Rona's back while unconsciously thinking about how he'd do the same thing to Rylea at times when she was down. Closing his eyes against the thoughts he knew were just going to bring him down more, he took in a deep relaxing breath and gave the girl the most reassuring smile he could conjure up. "Yeah," he replied finally, "Yes, Rona she's going to be just fine." _I hope anyway. _The thought hit him before he knew it had.

Rona sat up then, rubbing the remainder of her tears away and Ryo found himself yet again thinking about Rylea doing the same. He now tried to shut his wondering mind down and become numb to everything like he had that fatal night as Rona looked over at his shirt and smiled softly.

"Sorry, Uncle Ryo, I got your shirt wet," she said sheepishly to him, almost in a way of trying to cheer her own self up.

Ryo glanced down at his shirt and smiled, "Don't worry about it, Rons. It's just a shirt, I'm not really worried about it," he replied to her and then added with concern, "You sure you're ok though, sweetie?"

Rona nodded and took a deep relaxing breath in and let it out, "Yeah, it just upset me to see her like that, ya know?" she responded.

Ryo nodded his head absently in acknowledgement to her. "Hai, I know what you mean," he replied simply to her.

Rona got up from his lap and looked back down the hall she'd come from while chewing on her bottom lip. Just sitting there not knowing what was going on with her cousin was eating her up and she decided she had to do something. "I'm going to see if I can find anything out on her, ok?" she told her uncle.

Ryo bobbed his head back and forth in response to her while running a hand through his wild black hair, "Alright."

Rona smiled at him before turning and walking back down the hallway. Coming to the end of it, she didn't see her Dad anywhere, but instead found the nurses station to her right. W_hat the heck_, Rona decided, walking over to see if she could get any information out of them. "Excuse me, I'm looking for some information on someone who was brought in here not long ago," she said politely to the lady behind the desk.

The lady put aside what she had been doing and smiled warmly at her, "Sure thing, hun. Who are you looking for?"

"Her name is Sanada Rylea. Sa-na-da Ra-i-le-a, she was brought in here about a half hour ago. Can you tell me her stats?" Rona asked her while leaning her arms against the counter to the desk. Nervously she thrummed her nails against the top of the counter and kept looking down the hall as if searching for her father.

The lady behind the desk flipped through a few clipboards before then turning to the computer that sat in front of her. She typed something in and than scanned over the contents that came up. "What was her last name again?" she asked Rona politely with a glance up in her direction.

"Sanada," Rona replied, "Sa-na-da Rylea."

The lady scanned through some more things before speaking to Rona again. "Ms. Sanada was comatose when they brought her in;unresponsve to light, sound and touch. Her pulse was weak and blood pressure low," she read off to her while not looking up from the computer screen. The lady frowned as she read more, "Her blood count was lower then it was supposed to be and a transfusion was started immediately. Suspected that she may be suffering from anemia.Currently Dr. Hashiba is with her."

"I know, that's my Dad," Rona replied and the lady behind the desk looked up at her, "Is there anything else you can tell me?"

The lady looked at the screen to do a double check and shook her head, "No, I'm sorry that's all we have on her so far."

Rona sighed and thanked the lady for her help before walking away. She found a chair and sat down in it putting her head in her hands and closed her eyes. How could all this have happened? Rylea was fine when Rona had last seen her and now she was in the hospital? Something just wasn't adding up or making sense to Rona at all. _What could have happened to you, Lea? Please, please let her be ok. Just let her be ok._ Rona jerked her head up from her thoughts when a gentle hand came down on her shoulder; startling her.

"Whoa, it's just me," Rowen said calmly. His eyes studied his daughters and he could tell she had been crying. Her eyes were still a little red from it and Rona's face looked tear-streaked. "You okay, sweetheart?"

Rona nodded and rubbed at her face, trying to rid herself of the headache that was starting. She looked up at her father with questioning eyes. "How's Lea?"

Rowen rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, "Where's Ryo?"

"In the lobby," Rona replied and pointed back down the hall.

Rowen stood from where he had been crouched in front of Rona and looked down the hall in the direction of the lobby. A slight frown was starting to crease his forehead as he stared down the hall as if he were remembering something he didn't want to. "Come on, I've got something I need to tell Ryo."

Rona stood to follow after her father as he started down the hall in the direction her uncle and cousin were. Coming into the lobby, they found Ryo still sitting in the same chair only now Ryu had come back to take the seat next to him. Rowen walked over to Ryo with Rona in tow and smiled as warmly as he could at the dark haired man. "Hey, how you holding up?" he asked him cheerfully.

Ryo glanced up at him and his face said everything, "Fine, I guess," he replied but didn't sound like someone who was fine, "How's Lea, Rowen?"

Rowen sighed and wracked a stressed hand through his electric blue hair, his actions only alarming Ryo more. "Ryo," he spoke to him quietly, "She's lucky to be alive."

Ryo let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and said a silent 'thank you' to whatever Gods were watching over him.

"Any longer and I don't think we could have saved her," Rowen continued on, "She was comatose, meaning that she was unresponsive to anything we did to her, blood pressure was low and this puzzles me the most; her blood count levels were extremely low -meaning the red blood cell count in the blood was lower than what it should have been- which also told me that she was suffering from anemia, but she had no cuts on her anywhere."

Ryo blinked several times as all the information he had just been given set in and registered in his over loaded brain. "If she had no cuts," he started as he thought over what Rowen had said, "Then how was her blood count levels low?"

"You see, the thing with anemia is, there are two different ways for a person to have it. One, being with the loss of blood through cuts or internal due to trauma. Two, would be where it is caused by the rapid destruction of the red cells in the blood, thus also lowering the amount or quality of hemoglobin in the blood, leaving it abnormally low. This causes the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood to be reduced," he told Ryo who only looked back at him with a mystified expression asking if they were still speaking the same language.

"Um," Ryo drawled out. "Did you just answer my question about the blood loss without cuts?"

Rowen sighed, allowing himself a slight chuckle as he went on, "Hai, what I'm saying is that since she doesn't have any cuts on her, then she would have to have the number two thing said going on. Only thing is, the second one is by hereditary only."

A frown settled over his face now as he asked, "Ryo, do you know if Luna or yourself, may have some form of a hereditary disease such as Thalassaemia, Sickle cell disease, Hereditary spherocytosis, or Hereditary elliptocytosis?"

Confusion clearly slid over Ryo's face at the names that the blue-haired man listed off to him, "Ah, Rowen, I don't even know what any of those are, so no. As far as I know, I have none of those and I have no clue if Luna did."

"Well, I ordered electrophoress to be done. Basically it's just a blood test that specifically targets those that I just mentioned,"a frown now passed over Rowen's features as he continued on with, "There's one thing that bothers me, though."

"And what's that?" Ryo asked, already preparing himself to once again be lost in Rowen's intellectual doctor lingo.

Rowen now rubbed his chin in thought with a frown pinching at his forehead as he talked, "She was comatose when they brought her in, but that's not a symptom that is associated with anemia. Another thing is, I couldn't find any wounds or physical trauma to her head that may have caused that either."

"And so?"

"And so..." he said, now rubbing nervously at the back of his head, finding what he had to say next difficult. Rowen sighed and finally just said, "Without trauma to the head or something that I can visibly see, the only thing that I can think of that would cause her to become comatose would be a drug overdose."

Ryo's eyes immediately narrowed angrily at the man standing before him as he shifted his weight on his feet and stood up straighter. "Are you trying to say that my daughter is a druggie and that the reason why she's in a coma right now is because she had an overdose while I was gone, Rowen?" he tried to keep his voice calm and light, but anger seemed to penetrate his every word anyway.

"Ryo, you know that I wouldn't just accuse someone of something without good reason. I know it's hard for you to fathom, but I have no other thing to go on but this," Rowen defended himself. "Plus, it would also explain her sudden mood swings and strange behavior as of lately. I'm sorry, but I have reason to believe with what I have seen that she is indeed into drugs."

The anger that had once been on the dark haired man's face melted away and in its leave left a confused and guilty looking father. Ryo knew that Rowen just wouldn't accuse someone of something if he didn't whole heartedly believe that it was true. He just didn't understand how his daughter could be doing something like that. He had thought he'd brought her up with more morals than that.

"How could this have been going on, right under my nose, and I not know about it Rowen?" he now asked the man quietly.

"Hey," Rowen replied sympathetically and laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's not like this doesn't happen to hundreds of other families and they all ask the same question. If she is on drugs then we can help her, it's not like she's totally lost or anything."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said with a small glimmer of a smile on his face before looking up at Rowen and asking, "Can I see her now?"

Rowen smiled and gave him a firm nod, "Hai, but she won't be able to respond to you. She's still unconscious," he told him, "For right now I'm going to leave it at only you and Ryu can see her. I really don't want too many people in at once."

Ryo gave the blue-haired man a nod in understanding. "Ok, what room is she in?" he asked as he stood from his seat.

Rowen pointed back down the hall he had just come from. "Down that hallway, through the double doors and it's the third room on the left, number 213," he replied to Ryo who went in the direction he had said. When he was gone, Rowen turned back to Ryu with a raised eyebrow, "Aren't you going to go too?"

Ryu shook his head and sat back against his seat, "No, I think my Dad needs some alone time with her. I can see her later."

Rowen seemed to understand what Ryu was saying. Accepting his answer he turned to his daughter, who stood next to him. "Rona, call your mom and tell her to come and get you. I won't be able to take you home because I'll be working late here."

Rona nodded her head mutely as her father's answer. Rowen smiled and laid his hand on her shoulder in condolence. "You sure you're okay, angel?"

Rona nodded firmly and forced a strained smile, "Hai, yeah, I'm just tired."

Rowen smiled; he didn't believe her for a minute, but didn't push the issue. He knew she was worried and upset about her cousin. "She'll be ok, trust me," he said and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, then winked before walking off down the same hallway they'd come from to take care of a few things.

"You don't have to call your mom; I already did. She's on her way up here now," Ryu told her while stretching his arms and then placed them behind his head. Rona nodded solemnly and said nothing. Instead, she took up the seat her uncle had left and waited for her mom to show up.  
-

Ryo walked down the hallway Rowen had directed him to, reading the signs next to the doors, looking for the one his daughter was occupying. Finding the room went relatively easy; he stopped outside the door to room 213 where he knew Rylea was. For some reason, though,walking through the doorway to her room was harder than he had first thought it would be. It seemed like an eternity, thatRyo just stood outside the room, staring at the door. Gaining his courage finally, he took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway, slowly entering into the small hospital room.

Almost immediately, Ryo's heart sunk and the courage he had felt only a minute ago melted away at the sight before him. Lying in the hospital bed was Rylea's seemingly lifeless form. Machines buzzed and beeped all around her and an IV that held a red liquid was in her right arm while a white, plastic band was around her left wrist. It was the sight that parents hope and wish to never have to see and yet here he was, living out his nightmare in full color and sound.

Ryo forced his legs to work again as he moved to sit next to her, grabbing the chair in the corner and scooting it closer to the bed. Rylea's face looked pale and pasty while her eyelids held a purplish tint to them. An oxygen hose was in her nose to help her breathe and her chest rose and fell slowly in response to it. He now gently took her left hand in his, almost afraid that if he held it too firmly it might break.Slowlyheread the white band around her wrist briefly that displayed her name, date of birth, and sex on it. Ryo smiled sadly and looked up at her, gently brushing some of her hair away from her face, almost in way of occupying himself from what was going around him.

Finding his voice he spoke to her, "Hey, Jouchan, it's me. Dad's here, baby, and I'm not going anywhere," Ryo got out before he felt the sting of hot tears well up in his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling to keep the tears from rolling down his face, grateful for gravity at that moment.

Ryo needed to be strong now, not only for himself but for his daughter as well and crying was not being strong. He took a deep breath and let it out shakily, getting control of himself again and looked back down at Rylea. Gently he started to stroke her hair once again as he talked to her. "Rowen said any longer and you wouldn't have made it," he said and once again felt his throat become tight. Ryo swallowed against it and continued in a strained voice, "I kept thinking about how you must have felt coming home and no one being there. How scared you must have been when you started to pass out and knowing that-"

Ryo's throat constricted and he could feel tears threatening to come again, but continued against them, "Knowing that I wasn't there to help you," he finished what he had started to say. "Lea, I'm so sorry. I almost lost you for the second time and it's all my fault," he whispered to her and laid his head next to hers. Silent tears that he had been holding back trickled down his face and softly hit her pillow. All ofthe fear, guilt, pain, and anxiety he had been holding inside just came out and there was no wayof stopping it.

A few minutes passed before Ryo could get control of himself and wipe away the rest of the tears on his face, trying his best to cheer up and put a smile on his face. Taking his daughter's hand again, he tenderly caressed it. "Lea, baby, I know you can hear me," he started quietly, "Whereever you are, I need you to come back to me. I need you to wake up, Jouchan."

With unshed tears still in his eyes, Ryo held his daughter's hand tightly and looked at her. "Please, Jouchan, wake up," he whispered to her, his voice breaking slightly. The only response he got was the sound of her heart monitor slowly beeping and the hum of the other machines as they worked and kept track of her vitals. Ryo sighed and rested his elbows on the bed, taking her hand in both of his own and held it against his forehead. Closing his eyes he prepared himself for one long night.  
-

Rona sighed heavily as she closed the door to her room and leaned her back against it. It was late now and a school night for her on top of it. The night had been very hectic and chaotic for her and all she really wanted to do was fall into her bed and forget it had ever happened but Rona couldn't and she knew that. She felt too jumpy and all wound up to even think about sleep even though she needed it. Taking a deep breath, Rona pushed herself away from the door to her room and moved towards her closet tofind something for her to change into. Taking something loose and comfortable from the closet, Rona then climbed into her bed. She might not have been able to fall asleep yet with her mind reeling with questions and no answers, but she'd give it a try anyway. _What am I going to tell the others tomorrow? How am I going to tell them that Lea's in the hospital? _Her mind kept asking questions that she had no answers to.

Rona sighed and rolled over onto her back to stare up at the ceiling of her bedroom. _I wonder what Dad's doing right now? He's probably working wit, Lea and making sure she's ok. I hope she is. No, she is ok because Dad is taking care of her and he said she was going to be ok. Let this rest for a while, Rona, and get some sleep, or you'll be a zombie tomorrow in class. _She told herself. Now reassured, Rona rolled over to her side and closed her eyes, falling into a much needed sleep.  
-

Ryu came in later that night to check on his father and to see his little sister. When Ryu walked into the room, he found his father holding his little sister's hand while staring off into space. Lightly tapping the door to gain his father's attention, Ryu then stepped into the room."Hey, how you doing?" he asked his father while walking over next to him and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Ryo shrugged lightly, "I don't know, Rye. I just don't know," he replied quietly to his son.

"Hey," Ryu said and squeezed Ryo's shoulder, "She's going to be just fine, Dad. You heard what Uncle Rowen said."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard him, Rye," he replied and sighed as he looked over at his daughter, "If only I'd been home, maybe then she wouldn't be lying here hooked up to machines."

"Dad," Ryu said, he was used to his father's self-blaming but it hurt to see him do it, "You don't know that."

"True, but, Rye," he started and glanced up at his son, "I wasn't there. Lea was alone and scared and I wasn't there for her."

Ryu smiled sympathetically at him; now he saw where this was going. "Dad, Lea isn't going to and doesn't hate you. You can't always be there when something bad happens to her. It's just not possible."

Ryo smiled softly at his son's words and looked back over at his daughter again. He knew his son was right and a part of him wanted to just think in that manner, but Ryo couldn't bring himself to; all he could do was keep thinking that this was all his fault somehow. Ryu patted his father's shoulder and turned to exit the room, "I'm going to go get something to eat. Want anything?" he asked him while walking to the door.

Ryo shook his head and his eyes never left his daughter, "No, I'm fine, thanks."

Ryu nodded in understanding and walked out of the door leaving his father alone once again with Rylea. Ryo sighed and went to holding her hand again while he stared at nothing in general. He was trying to find that happy place to crawl into, anything to help him escape this nightmare he was in. He was so wrapped up in finding that happy place that he didn't notice his daughter's eyes start to twitch and open.

Rylea slowly opened her eyes, having much difficulty since they felt heavier than normal. She groaned when the light overhead hurt her eyes, making her squeeze them back shut again. Her head hurt and she had no idea where she was. Rylea faintly remembered blacking out at home while searching for her father. _The pain; how it had hurt. Everything swirling; getting weaker. Calling for her Dad and he never came. Where was she? What was this place? Where was her Dad? _

"Dad?" Rylea heard herself barely whisper out hoarsely. She tried to open her eyes again, but could only get them to slightly open. Everything looked blurred and out of focus, but she could barely make out the outline of someone sitting next to her. "Daddy?" she tried again, this time a little louder.

Ryo snapped back to reality from his happy place when he thought he'd heard someone say his name, but who could it have been? He looked over at Rylea and felt his heart leap to his throat. Was she awake?

Rylea groaned and moved her head, trying to get her eyes to open all the way. She squinted against the light and forced her eyes to stay open, "Otousan?"

Ryo felt an invisible weight that had been on his shoulders lift. Suddenly everything looked brighter and he had a better out look on the situation now. "Lea?" he said when he had found his voice again.

"Dad?" she said again, now fully awake and looking around at her surroundings, "Where am I? Where were you? I called and called for you, but you never came."

Ryo's heart constricted at how helpless and desperate her voice sounded. Where had he been that he couldn't have been there for her? "You're in the hospital, Jouchan," he answered her questions, purposely skipping over her other question.

"Why am I..." Rylea started while trying to sit up, but ended up having to lay back against her pillows again, "Here."

"Take it easy," Ryo told her and helped his daughter lay back against the pillows, "Do you remember anything that happened, Lea?"

Rylea was quiet for a moment; she was searching her mind for the answer to his question. "I remember coming home, feeling weak and almost fainting in front of the door. I called for you, but you never came, so I decided to try and make it to the front room and then..." she trailed off in thought, "I woke up here."

Ryo felt the sting of tears coming to his eyes again, but this time he didn't know if they were tears of joy or guilt. Gently, he took her face in his hands and looked directly into his daughter's eyes. "Lea, baby, I am so sorry that I wasn't there. I should've been and I wasn't. I'm sorry, Jouchan," he apologized to her.

Rylea tried to smile at her father, but sleep was starting to tug at her again, calling her back into its grasp. "It's ok, Dad, I don't blame you for anything," she replied, but her words were now starting to fade off in that sleepy slur.

Terror seized Ryo now as the memory of Luna doing the same thing came back to him. He didn't want her to go back to sleep; he was afraid she wouldn't wake back up again. "Lea, don't go back to sleep, baby," he said to her sternly, but Rylea wasn't listening to him anymore.

"Hey, I'm ba-" Ryu started as he came back into the room, munching on a bag of chips and stopped when he looked over the scene.

Ryo turned to him and shouted for him to get Rowen.

Ryu nodded and dashed out of the room in search of his Uncle.

Ryo glanced back to his daughter who was now drifting in and out of consciousness. He shook her gently to try and get her to stay awake. "Rylea, sweetie, stay awake. Stay with me, Jouchan, just stay awake," he kept saying to her, doing whatever he could to keep her awake.

Rowen came into the room and took action as soon as he was standing over her. He took a pocket light from his coat pocket and shined it in her eyes. Rylea in turn groaned and shut them tightly against the light. Rowen smiled and sighed, "Lea, how are you feeling?" he asked her.

Rylea squinted her eyes open at the person standing over her. She recognized the voice of the person as her Uncle Rowen. "My head hurts and I'm tired," she replied to him, "Can I please go back to sleep now?"

Rowen gave her a nod with a grin, "Hai, you can go back to sleep now," he said to her before checking over her vitals and stats. Ryo just watched him mutely from his seat next to the bed. When Rowen was done, he turned to Ryo and motioned for him to follow him out into the hall.

Ryo took one last glance at his daughter who was now sleeping peacefully again before following after his brother-in-law out into the hall. "How is she?" he asked him when they were outside of her room.

Rowen smiled at him; he couldn't help it, Ryo looked terrible. His eyes looked tired and he had dark circles starting to form under them; this whole thing was starting to take its toll on him and Rowen could see it. "Ryo she's fine. Her blood levels are back up to where they should be; she's responding well and her vitals are great."

Ryo sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "In other words that would mean?"

"It means you can take her home in the morning if she doesn't take a turn for the worst between now and then," he replied, placing a concerned hand on Ryo's shoulder. "Go home and get some sleep. It's two in the morning Ryo; not much is going to change and she's going to be out for a while by the looks of it."

Ryo shook his dark head stubbornly. "No, I can't leave her, Rowen," he stated bluntly to him and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Rowen nodded and said nothing else about it. Ryo's mind was made up and he really couldn't blame him. If it was his daughter, he'd want to stay in the room too and nothing or anyone could get him to leave. "Well, I've got to go send this sample of her blood off to the lab," he told him, patting Ryo's shoulder before he walked off down the hall.

Ryo looked down the hallway after Rowen and smiled when he saw his son walking up the hallway towards him, still munching on a bag of chips. Ryo cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders to try and loosen them.

Ryu walked up to him casually, like nothing was going on and smiled. His brown eyes twinkled as if he were secretly laughing at him about something.

Ryo studied him, suddenly wondering what he was smiling about. "Something you find amusing about all this?" he asked him with a sense of annoyance.

Ryu shrugged, smiling brightly while he shoveled chips into his mouth. "Oh nothing," he replied casually, "Except there's this really kawaii girl down in the cafeteria. You might want to check her out, Dad."

Ryo couldn't help but let a small smile spread across his face. _His sister is in the hospital, but, instead of being worried about her, he's out checking out the girls in the cafeteria._ He thought with mirth. _Where did I go wrong with him? _Ryo chuckled and slapped his son on the back, "Ah, you're a piece of work, Rye. How proud you make me at times," he told him while grinning brightly.

"I'm serious!" Ryu retorted, now grinning as well. "Go check her out, Dad. Maybe you'll get lucky," he nudged Ryo with his elbow and then laughed at the slanted eyebrow he got from his father.

Ryo laughed lightly and wrapped his arm around Ryu's shoulders, "Oh how you make me laugh son."

"Hey now," Ryu replied crossly, "I'm just trying to get you hooked up. Dad, you're a bachelor and have been for almost ten years now. Its time you get out and start dating."

"Oh?" Ryo retorted, raising one dark eyebrow humorously at his son. "And since when did you become the expert on dating?"

"Its a common known fact, Dad," he replied and then smiled coyly at him, "Don't tell me you haven't seen the way some of these women have been checking you out."

"Sorry, I've been a little busy," Ryo said as he peeked in on Rylea smiling when he saw her sleeping soundly still.

"Well, maybe you should start paying attention," Ryu retorted to his father, "Plus, I think, Lea should have some kind of a motherly figure in her life, if youcatch my drift."

Ryo chuckled at him. Here it was a little after two in the morning and his son wanted to go into the aspects of his love life, "Rye, keep an eye on your sister for me. I think I'm going to go get something to drink."

Ryu smiled and shook his brown-haired head at his father. "Sure thing, Otousan, whatever you say," he replied and strode into the room where his sister was sleeping.

Ryo chuckled briefly and rolled his blue eyes to the sky, silently asking the Gods why they had cursed him before walking down the hallway in search of a vending machine.  
-

**A/N:** Ok, against the wishes of two certain people who reviewed this story I am continuing it for all of you out there who DO like this story. I would also like to say that I understand not all of you are going to like this and if you don't, keep it to your self. Also I guess some people don't understand or comprehend the fact that this is MY series and I can take out whatever character I choose and replace them with whoever I want. I'm not following the exact guidelines of the RW series here I'm making and shaping it the way I want to. If you don't like it, too bad for you. Now I've said all I need to say and I thank everyone who has sent a good review in. It means a lot to me and don't think that it goes unnoticed because it doesn't. Harry, Firestorm, Rogue, BlackBull289, Jallana and Sifirela and anyone else I forgot to mention, thank you very much.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The bell rang at Han a' High, signaling lunch time. All the young teens filed into the large cafeteria or joined friends outside to sit on the picnic tables. Four girls in particular decided to stay inside that day instead of usually going outside like they would have. They sat glumly and quietly at a table in the cafeteria while other kids laughed and chatted with their friends about school and other things around them. None of the girls at the table really had much to say or didn't feel like talking. The news about Rylea being in the hospital had upset the other three young girls when Rona had told them earlier that morning now the day seemed too long and very different without the sounds of Rylea joking and horsing around or getting into fights while Rona tried in vain to keep her cousin out of trouble.

Heather sighed and looked up from her plate of food that she had barely touched, blinking as her jaw dropped when she noticed the young man walking towards them. She nudged Rona who was sitting next to her and said in hushed tones, "Look, it's that guy from the other day! The one who ran into you."

Rona glanced up, along with Keish and Kami, to see if it really was the same guy. Her jaw literally dropped like Heather's had when she indeed saw that it was the same guy.

Tadin smiled and strolled over to the four girls who were now staring at him like he'd grown a second head. "Hi," he greeted them all, "Can I sit with you four ladies?"

Heather smiled brightly and flipped her blond hair behind her shoulder. "Sure, please do," she replied, motioning with her hand for him to join them.

"Thanks," he said and took a seat next to Keish. Immediately his senses picked up the presence of strong auras around him. Tadin recognized two of them and figured the two new girls held the other ones he sensed. Looking at the gloomy faces the girls had he frowned, "Um, something wrong? You girls look like someone you know just died."

"Its been a bad day," Kami replied softly while trying her best to be cheerful, but it wasn't working. "I don't think I caught your name though."

"Sorry, I thought your friends had mentioned me to you," he said with a playful smile, "I'm, Tadin."

"Well, nice to meet ya, Tadin buddy," Keish responded enthusiastically to try and lighten the mood around the table.

Tadin smiled at her in return, "Now why are such kawaii girls like yourselves looking so gloomy? Boyfriends dump you or something?"

Heather grinned at his compliment while Kami blushed and went back to poking at her food.

When no one answered his question, Rona decided to speak up for them. "Our friend is in the hospital," she quietly informed him.

"Yeah, the rebel to our little group here, Rylea," Keish added and put her head on her hand that was placed on the table top.

"Rylea," Tadin repeated the name as if he liked the way it sounded, "That's an odd name, but very pretty."

Rona scowled at the dingy-blonde-haired man. She didn't like this guy very much for some reason, not after the shock she had gotten from him when he had touched her hand in the mall. Something about him just didn't set right with her. "Yeah, she's my cousin and is in the hospital. That's why we're all not in the peppiest of moods today," she told him crossly.

"So I can tell," he replied, catching the hint that Rona didn't like him all that much. "Well, I hope she's ok and maybe I can meet her when she comes back?"

"She was supposed to be getting out this morning and prolly should be back by tomorrow," Keish stated to him.

"That is if Uncle Ryo let's her," Kami implied to the conversation and got nods from her friends. They all understood how overly protective their Uncle Ryo was at times.

"But enough about, Lea," Heather said with a smile in Tadin's direction as she changed the subject, "What brings you to our happy little school?"

"I decided to check out this school and since I remembered you saying that Rona and you go here, I figured I'd just enroll here for the heck of it," Tadin explained with a grin at Heather.

"Oh," Heather said while trying to act surprised, "Well welcome to our school and we hope that you will enjoy it here."

Keish rolled her eyes in annoyance at the blond and her flirting. "Gimmie a break," she mumbled to herself while turning her head from the two. Kami gave her friend a stern glare, but only got an innocent grin from Keish in return.

Tadin smiled at Heather; there was something very different about Heather and her friends' auras something powerful and it just called to him.

The bell rang loudly again and lunch was over. The four girls groaned at the bell, but got up and threw away the remnants of their lunches, saying a goodbye to Tadin before following the crowd of kids back to their classes. Tadin watched them leave before going to his own class. He smiled coldly as he thought to himself, _Oh yes, I think I'm going to enjoy my stay here. Very much so.  
-_

Ryo awoke from his half asleep state on the couch when one of the steps on the stairs creaked loudly in the quiet stillness of the house. He darted his eyes to the direction of the stairs and sighed when he found his daughter making her way slowly down them trying not to make a sound. Unconsciously he noted that she had taken a pair of her brother's gray shorts and one of his shirts. _He'll have a fit when he finds out they're gone. _Ryo groggily registered in his mind.

"Rylea Marie," Ryo said sternly, smirking to himself when she jumped from the sound of his voice, "Just what in the name of the Ancient do you think you are doing out of bed, young lady?"

Rylea blinked at him before grinning mockingly as she came out of her startled stupor, "Oh, just out taking a stroll. It was just such a pretty day for one, ya know?"

Ryo felt his lips twitch at her comment, but forced himself to keep a neutral face. "Very cute. Get your butt back up those stairs and in that bed or I'll carry you, wakatta?" he threatened with a stern point in the direction of her room.

Rylea folded her arms crossly over her chest and glared at her father, "But, Dad, I'm hungry and I can't lay in that bed anymore or I'll go crazy and I know it!"

Ryo laid his head against the back of the couch while placing one of his hands over his eyes in aggravation. "Rylea, you just got out of the hospital. I don't want you up. If you were hungry why didn't you just tell me?" he stated to her slowly and plainly as if speaking to a child who had a mental disability.

"Because I didn't want to be a burden and you were sleeping, so I just thought I'd come down and make myself something," she replied back in the same slow and plain manner that he had.

Ryo chuckled and took his hand away from his eyes to focus them on his daughter. "When are you ever _not_ a burden to me? It didn't matter if I was or wasn't asleep, you still should've woke me up," he retorted.

"Well, gee sorry, next time I will, ok?" she replied back sarcastically and continued on her way to the kitchen.

Ryo gave a sighof frustration for having such a sassy daughter as he got up to follow after her. "Lea, just what do you think you are doing?" he asked as he came into the kitchen after her.

Rylea glanced at him from over the top of the fridge door as she scanned the contents of the thing. "I thought it was pretty obvious," she threw at him.

Ryo shook his head at her as he leaned against the cupboard with folded arms over his chest and grinned, "You're something else, you know that, Jouchan?"

"Yeah, I know," Rylea replied happily to her father as she grinned brightly from ear to ear.

Ryo merely chuckled at her in amusement and then looked over at the back door,which came into the kitchen, when it opened. Ryu came in holding a paper bag that held something that smelled deliciously good. He stopped after he had shut the door behind him and glanced between the two people in the kitchen. "Um, hi?" he said cautiously and set the paper bag down on the table.

Rylea shut the fridge door and ran over to see what her brother had brought in.

Ryu blinked and backed away from his sister chuckling in humor as he watched her paw through the bag and pull out cartons of rice, noodles and other things. Rylea grabbed a pair of chop sticks, and then went to work on the rice cakes, fried rice, and noodles that she had found in the cartons.

Ryu scratched the back of his head and turned brown eyes on his father, who was smiling at Rylea's actions, "A little hungry was she?" he asked wryly.

Ryo smirked and cast tired eyes at his son, "What was your first hint?"

"I'm not sure since she always eats like that," he replied with sarcasm.

Rylea popped a whole rice cake in her mouth and looked over at her brother and father. "Come on you guys, the food's really good! Want some?" she asked them with a full mouth.

Ryo smiled tiredly at her, amused by his daughter. "No, Lea, you go ahead and eat to your little heart's content," he replied, walking over to her he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head before heading into the front room flopping down on the couch to try and rest.

Rylea stopped mid chew and looked over at her brother who in turn looked back at her and then both glanced back at their father who was now lounging on the couch. Both shrugging their shoulders at him, Rylea then went back to eating while Ryu smirked and watched her almost in hail the food.

"You know, the food's not going anywhere, Lea," Ryu told her jokingly as he snagged a rice cake from her pile of food.

"Hey!" Rylea protested loudly, "Keep your hands off my food!"

"Your food?" Ryu repeated with a raised eyebrow, "I believe the food belongs to me since _I_ was the one who bought it."

"With money _Dad _gave you so _nah_," she retorted and stuck her tongue out at her brother.

Ryu smiled mischievously and reached across the table to grab his sister's tongue before she could pull it back in her mouth. He grinned more at the shocked look on her facedue tohis actions.

Rylea screeched and tried to get her tongue away from her brother who held onto itwith no intent on letting go anytime soon. "Dad!" she managed to get out.

Ryo groaned tiredly at his children's behavior, "Rye, leave your sister alone."

Ryu smirked and let go of his sister's tongue. "Next time keep it in your mouth." Rylea glowered in turnat her brother as she went back to her food, but said nothing.

Ryu smiled at her and took one of the cartons, grabbed a pair of chop sticks and started eating the food he'd bought.

Ryo mouthed a 'thank you, Gods' when the kitchen went silent and his children settled down. All he wanted to do was curl up on the couch and fall asleep for at least a good seven hours. The long stint he'd done in the hospital the night before with Rylea and not getting any sleep was wearing heavily on him now.

Ryo yawned and turned the tv down while getting comfortable on the couch. _Now just let them stay quiet like this for a good three hours or so and I might not kill them, _He thought with a small smile as he closed his eyes and tried to get some much needed sleep.  
-

Rona and Heather stood off to the side of the stove as they watched the petite brunette help her Dad out with the cooking in the kitchen. It was after school now and the girls had decided to hang out at the restaurant for a while to help out or do what they could before going to meet Leinto for a training session. Keish was busy helping out by taking over for one of the waitresses since help was kind of low that day. Kami and Cye had oppted to help in the kitchen, but that was usual. Both of them usually eitherhelped out with the cooking or oversaw it at least. Kami would get an order done for Keish and then hand it off to the ash-blue haired girl who would then deliver it to the right table.

Kami sighed as she wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and pulled her auburn-red/brown hair back away from her face. Wiping her hands on the apron she wore, she turned to her two friends who were watching her. "You know, you two could possibly help," she said to them suggestively.

"Ah, no thanks. Cooking is not my forté," Rona replied with a sheepish grin at her sea-loving friend while waving her hands in front of her.

Cye laughed and glanced over at the three girls from his own spot at the stove. "Why does that not surprise me?" he asked with humor evident in his voice, "Is it because you're Rowen's daughter and we all know how well Rowen does in the kitchen?"

Kami chuckled sweetly at her father's comment, "Dad, that wasn't nice."

Cye grinned and handed a plate of food to one of the waitresses, "I know, but it was the truth."

Rona half-laughed at the remarks about her father and his cooking as she leaned against the doorway to the kitchen area. "Well, I guess that's why he ended up becoming a doctor and not a cook, ne?" she asked back with a twinkle in her purple-blue eyes.

Cye nodded in thought, "Yeah, I guess that would be why. It'd be best for him to try and save lives, not end up poisoning them with his food."

"Dad!" Kami cried in shocked embarrassment and gave his arm a light slap.

Cye chuckled at his daughter while rubbing the spot where she had hit him. "Hey now, what was that for?" he asked her innocently.

Kami glared playfully at her father while setting her hands on her tiny hips, "You know full well what that was for."

Rona laughed at the two as Cye pulled his protesting daughter into a bear hug.

Heather hung up her cell phone that she had been talking on and raised an eyebrow at Cye and Kami before turning to Rona. "My Dad said he should be here in a few. If you want, I could get him to drop us off at the training spot instead of us having to walk there," Heather suggested while toying with the flip phone in her hands.

Rona nodded a 'yes' to the slightly shorter blond next to her. "Sure, if it's not too much trouble for him. I don't want him to go out of his way or anything," she said.

"Nah, he won't mind," Heather replied with a wave of her hand. "Come on, let's go wait out here for him. This heat back here is starting to make my hair frizz," she stated while grabbing ahold of Rona's arm and beginning to drag her away from the kitchen.

"Gah, Heather!" the royal-blue-haired teen protested at being dragged by the blond, "If it's not, Lea then it's you who'sdragging me."

Heather shrugged off her comment and let go of her arm, "Sorry, I had no idea that Lea did it do you as well." She took a seat on a stool in front of the island bar that sat in front of the pick up window.

Rona took a seat next to her while repositioning her top.

Heather brushed a hand through her golden blond hair and set her light blue eyes on Rona, "Have you talked to, Lea today?"

Rona looked up at her from fixing her clothes, surprised that Heather was asking about her cousin and tucked some of her royal-blue-hair behind her ear, "No, but I'm going to call her tonight and see how she is."

Heather nodded and absently tapped her nails on the top of the counter, "Ok."

Rona sighed and laid her head on her hand, "I really don't feel like going to training today. It was hard enough trying to get through school. You think Leinto would give us a day off since we're short one member?"

Heather shrugged her shoulders lightly as an answer. "I don't know, Rons. Sometimes I can't figure that guy out at all. You'd think he would, though," she replied and eyed the door to their right when it opened, frowning lightly when she saw it wasn't her father who came in.

"Well, let's just go and then we can ask him for the day off when we get there," Rona suggested logically.

Heather nodded at her words, but wasn't really interested in what she was saying. She was preoccupied with watching the door for her father.

Rona rolled her eyes at the blond when she noticed Heather wasn't listening to her anymore and idly watched the people going in out of the building as she waited for her Uncle Sage to show up.  
-

Leinto appeared in the Sanada household later that night and was surprised to find it so eerily quiet. Never in all the short time he had known them had he heard the house this quiet. Curious as to where everyone was, Leinto walked further into the house until he came upon Ryo's lounging form in the front room. The dark haired man almost looked as if he were mesmerized or in some kind of a trance by the tv with the way he was just staring at the screen. Leinto cleared his throat in an attempt to gain the young man's attention when it became apparent that he wasn't going to notice him.

Ryo jerked his head up from the tv from the sound to where Leinto was standing and blinked in slight confusion upon seeing the charge there.

The first thing Leinto noticed about Ryo's appearance was how tired and stressed the dark haired man looked. There were dark circles under his bright blue eyes, which meant he hadn't slept in a while and he just had this tired look about him. "Are you ok?" Leinto asked him, concerned by his appearance.

Ryo sighed in reply while massaging his eyes in hopes to clear his vision. "Yeah, I've just had a very bad night and day yesterday," he replied to him, trying not to sound as tired as he felt.

Leinto frowned lightly at the dark haired man, he could tell in the way he talked and acted that he was just drained physically and mentally. "I see," he replied, trying to keep his voice light. "Well, then, I really hate to drop this on you now, but I thought it would be best if I did."

Ryo suddenly became alarmed by what Leinto was saying. He didn't know why, but hehad a feeling it was something bad. "What is it?" he asked hesitantly as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was he was going to tell him.

Leinto studied Ryo for a moment or two, seriously considering against telling him; the poor guy looked like he had enough problems on his mindas it was. "This has to do with, Rylea, Ryo," he told him calmly.

Ryo raised one dark eyebrow at the graying man in almost, what seemed to be, humor, "Ok, what did she do _this_ time?"

Leinto gave him a light smile. "Nothing new," he said and then cleared his throat. "Ryo, lately I've been seeing a drastic change in her attitude and not the for better, I'm afraid. She's been showing up late to practices and then, when she finally does decide to show up not all the timebut most of the time she'll act like her evil twin. I'm very concerned about her."

"You wouldn't be the only one. I've noticed it too," Ryo replied as he hunched over and laid his arms on his legs. "She'll snap sometimes at the littlest things. Like yesterday for example; I went to wake her up yesterday morning and she went off on me. The yelling at me was nothing new, but the look in her eyes ..." he said as he trailed off in thought, envisioning the look he had seen in his daughter's eyes.

Leinto looked at him now with growing curiosity, "What about her eyes?"

Ryo covered his face with his hands, trying to just block everything out. "When I looked into her eyes, I could have sworn I saw something there something almost evil, pacing, just waiting to be let out. Of course, she blinked and it disappeared, but the chill I had from her eyes was unbelievable," he answered and took his hands away from his face. "It was like nothing I'd ever felt before."

Leinto frowned deeply at what Ryo had just told him. From what he had seen out of her and now what Ryo was telling him he'd seen, this whole thing was not looking good to him. He had this nagging sense of dread that he knew what was going on. "She's turning fifteen in a few weeks, right?" he asked Ryo suddenly when a thought occurred to him.

Ryo looked up at the graying man suspiciously as to why he would ask him that, "Hai, she'll be fifteen July twenty-fifth, why?"

"No reason," Leinto replied almost a little too fast. "Keep an eye on her, though, and inform me of any new actions from her."

Ryo nodded his head slowly; something told him Leinto knew a little more than what he was letting on. "Yeah, sure thing," he said.

Leinto gave him a light smile before then turning and disappearing from in front of him.

Ryo sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. The house was quiet, which meant Rylea was sleeping and Ryu was either not there or was outside. Ryo whistled for Whiteblaze and, when the tiger didn't come, he figured Ryu had taken his pet with him. The dark haired man sighed in exestuation as he laid down once again on the couch, figuring he could get some more much needed sleep while Rylea was out.  
-

Tadin walked the streets of the demon community, the same streets he had walked since he was a little boy. He couldn't remember how he had ended up there; all he knew was that he had found himself wandering these same streets one day. It had scared him when he saw the people here; they looked weird some of them had scales, others horns, and some he didn't know what they were or find the right words to describe them.

A woman had found him cowering in an alleyway. She had been one of the few who had seemed to look normal almost normal anyway. She still had a strange look about her though. Her green eyes seemed luminescent and menacing in the darkness of the night,while she had an evil glow about her that made her features look dark and scary. Tadin had at first been afraid of the woman but, when she had started to talk to him, all doubt he had about her had disappeared.

She took him and raised him as if he were her own, taught him about who he was, and told him the reason he could see scary people was because he was a hybrid, a demon. The woman had taught him that only demons could see other demons and that, to humans, they looked like normal people.

Tadin smirked at the memory he had brought up and squashed it back, deep into his subconscious mind. The last thing he needed was to go down memory lane and dig up the past, because the past could sometimes be a painful thing to have and remember.

Turning the corner, he walked straight into the penthouse, his home for the time being. It looked more like an old abandoned building on the outside, but was far from that on the inside. He walked into the first floor of the penthouse and found a few of the other tenants were home now. Sato and Adian were their names at least that's what he thought they were, he really paid no heed to any of the other demons who lived there along with him.

"Hey Tadin, where ya been buddy?" Sato asked him as his appearance into the room caught his eye. Sato was a big, muscular guy. Most of the other guys who stayed in the penthouse were afraid of him and they had aright to be. Sato was a dark man, tall and had fire red hair that was long and hung down past his shoulder blades. He always had his hair pulled back in a loose ponytail down his back, though.

Tadin walked right past him, almost as if he hadn't heard or seen Sato, and headed for his room. "Out," was his only reply to Sato.

Adian scoffed at his answer and turned around on the couch, looking over the back of it at the dingy blond. "Out? We're your friends and all you can tell us is you were out?" he asked him, sounding insulted in some way. Adian was not a big man like Sato, but was still quite muscular and could prove to be very dangerous when he wanted to. Unlike Sato, Adian had shaggy forest green hair and amber eyes.

Tadin paid him no heed and simply brushed his question off while he headed to open the door to his room. "You know," Sato started to catch Tadin's attention and the dingy blond stopped mid open of his door, "Word is you're after that new demon. Are the rumors true?"

Tadin smirked at Sato's question; word traveled fast in the demon community, he knew that, but it still surprised him how fast it had spread. He thought it would at least take a good week or two. "What's it to you?" he threw back at Sato from over his shoulder where he stood poised at the door to his room.

Sato held his hands up in defense. "Nothin' man, I was just wondering," he replied with a grin that said other wise.

"We're hoping that you find her though, Tadin," Adian put in as he settled himself back down on the couch to watch tv, "We don't really want to see someone else claim the glory from you."

_I'm sure you do. _Tadin chuckled softly, almost cynically, at their comments as he continued into his room, shutting the door after him. It had been a very long day and his bed was calling to him now. Discarding his jacket, he flopped down on the bed, closing his eyes and letting his mind go into melt-down mode while he fell into a half conscious sleep. Onecouldn't let their guard down, even to sleep, when you lived in the place thathe did.  
_-_

**AN:** Ok, here's chap 6. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story. You're comments, good ones and even some critiques are much appreciated. Special thanks go to MorganRay, Desert Fox and BlackBull289. Um, I got a review from some chick named shigamoni and I really couldn't understand what it was she had meant in the review. If anyone knows who she is or can understand what it is she's talkin bout, let me know please. One last thing, I'm not going to post any more chaps until I start to get some more feed back from you ppl on this story. If you like this story and want me to continue it, then get to reviewing otherwise I might just discontinue it.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The light coming from the full moon outside streamed through the bedroom window to lay stripes of light across the bed of the sleeping girl against the darkness that incased the room. The occupant in the bed tossed and turned as if caught in some horrendous dream that she couldn't escape. Whiteblaze who laid at the foot of her bed opened his chocolate brown eyes as a foot kicked him in his side awakening him from his sleeping state. He yawned tiredly and laid his head back down on his large paws, not even bothering with the sleeping person Whiteblaze was used to her tossing.

Rylea tossed more, turning over onto her side and then twisting back around to lay on her left side again. Her face contorted into a mask of pain and fear as the nightmare continued to rage on in her mind unable to escape from it. Muffled words and cries for help escaped her as she continued to toss in her bed. Whiteblaze, not being able to sleep with all the noise coming from her, opened his eyes tiredly again to gaze at the struggling teen. Confusion settled across the tiger's face at her antics never had he seen her toss this badly before. Concerned for his young mistress, Whiteblaze stretched and began to get up from his spot at the bottom of the bed to go to the aid of the poor girl. Before Whiteblaze could get up, Rylea finally escaped the nightmare she had been stuck in jerking from her sleep in a startled fashion so suddenly that she scared Whiteblaze.

"No, Mommy!" Rylea shouted as she came out of her sleep, her hand automatically coming up to clutch the silver pendant hanging from her neck. Her heart was pounding so loudly that Whiteblaze was sure he could hear it over her ragged breathing. Seeing his young mistress sitting up in her bed now looking terrified, Whiteblaze picked his large head up to lick her face lovingly.

Rylea blinked rapidly to clear her vision and looked over at the white and black striped tiger somehow she felt better knowing that he was there with her and she wasn't alone. Something in her dream had been so terrifying that it had awakened her, but now what that thing was she couldn't remember. Her mind was foggy, clouded over and no matter how hard she tried to pull forth the memory of what had scared her, she couldn't it was almost as if something subconsciously was stopping her from doing so. Whatever had been in her dream, her mind didn't want her to remember it.

A chill set over Rylea even though it was hot in her room and she wrapped her arms tightly around herself in an attempt to ward off the cold feeling. Her eyes darted around her room as if searching to make sure that something or someone wasn't there. All she found, though, were the comforting remnants of her room, but still she couldn't shake the frightened, alone, feeling she had. Without really knowing why, Rylea began to shake as if she were terrified.

Whiteblaze purred and rubbed his head against the girl's arm in an attempt to settle her, but his attempts didn't seem to be helping any.

Fear gripped Rylea as an overwhelming sense of loneliness over came her. She didn't know why she felt afraid; she had no reason to be. Could whatever had been in her dream, what she couldn't seem to remember, have terrified her this much? Whiteblaze's company couldn't even seem to help her shake that feeling of fear and this puzzled her. Rylea wrapped her blanket around herself as she buried her face into the soft fur of Whiteblaze's neck trying to settle her nerves and rid herself of the terrified feeling that she had. Whiteblaze purred and rubbed his large head against the young girl as a way of reassurance that everything was ok. Not even that worked though.

Not being able to rid herself of the fear she felt, Rylea looked to the next person who she knew would be able to make all her problems go away her father. Uncoiling her arms from around the large tiger's neck she got off her bed, still wrapped in her blanket and started to make her way from her room Whiteblaze just watched her silently leave the room from his spot on her bed.

Opening the door she stumbled down the hallway to her father's room, checking first to see if he was there. Seeing that his bed was empty, Rylea turned away from the room and headed further down the hall until she came to the stairs walking carefully down them, still wrapped in her blanket, she came into the living room. She found her father downstairs, asleep on the couch and for some unknown reason, Rylea felt tears spring to her eyes at the sight of him.

"Daddy," Rylea croaked out as she got closer to her sleeping father, slipping onto the couch where he slept next to him, still wrapped in her blanket and threw her arms around him hugging him tightly while the unexplained tears rolled down her face.

Ryo groggily woke from his uneasy sleep, glancing down first at his daughter who was clinging to him before then looking up at the clock that hung over the tv entertainment center. He squinted and blinked his eyes to clear his vision so he could read what the clock said his mind tiredly took in the fact it was dark now in the house. The next thing his foggy mind registered was that Rylea was crying and that it was obviously late.

"Lea," he said once he could form a sentence and stroked her hair, "Baby what's wrong?"

Rylea didn't answer his question and instead just hugged him tighter. Ryo frowned and sat up, pulling his daughter up with him as he did so. "Lea, what's wrong? I can't help you unless you tell me, Jouchan," he gently told her, now in concerned father mode.

Rylea rubbed her tears away with the back of her hands, but wouldn't look at him. "I'm not really sure," she answered him weakly.

Ryo smiled at his daughter as he caressed the side of her head gently, trying to comfort her the best he could. "You're not sure?" he repeated with a humorous smile, "Jouchan you have to know."

"I dunno know," she replied helplessly again, "All I know is that I had a bad dream that really shook me up. I'm not even sure what the dream was about."

"Aw, my poor angel," Ryo cooed to his daughter as he pulled her into his loving embrace. "Or wait, I mean my poor little devil child."

Rylea smiled at his words as she crawled into her father's lap, gratefully allowing him to pull her into his strong arms. She felt safety and security in her father's embrace, something that she needed to feel right then. The fear and loneliness that she had felt only moments ago seemed to melt away the longer her father held her close. Her father was her protector, her comfort zone and no matter how bad she felt, he could always seem to make her feel better.

Feeling at ease and secure, Rylea yawned as sleep started to take a hold of her again her eyelids beginning to droop closed as well. Ryo looked down at her and smiled as he saw her starting to fall back asleep. "Feel better now, sweetie?" he asked her while soothingly rubbing her arm.

Rylea closed her eyes, snuggling more into her father's embrace. "Yeah, much better," she quietly replied, slowly starting to slip back into sleep.

Ryo smiled down at the sleeping girl as he pulled her blanket around her. Hugging her close he kissed the side of her face. "Oyasumi nasai, Jouchan," he said to her, gently stroking her hair until he was sure she was sound asleep again.

Ryo looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms and frowned as he hugged her tightly. _She had a bad dream, but doesn't know why she was so upset,_ he thought to himself as he glanced down at his sleeping daughter. _Why all of a sudden is she having these nightmares and why did Leinto ask about her birthday? So many questions and no answers._

Ryo sighed and stopped his rambling thoughts as he grabbed one of the couch pillows, putting it behind his head. Kissing his daughter good night one last time, he rested his head against the pillow and tried to fall back to sleep. Sleep, he needed to rest, but sleep didn't want to come for him. For the longest time, Ryo just sat there on the couch, holding his daughter as he listened to her slow, rhythmic breathing until he was finally lulled into sleep. The house went quiet again as its occupants slept soundly.  
-

Rona Hashiba awoke the next morning, same as always, but this day she had an unshakable bad feeling. A kind of nagging sense of dread the same feeling she had had the day Rylea had gone into the hospital. Ignoring it, Rona stretched her arms high over her head and climbed from her bed to get around for yet another school day. After grabbing her school uniform, throwing it on, and had completed the rest of her usual morning routine, Rona then made her way into the kitchen for breakfast. Coming into the kitchen she found her Mom and Dad already up and in the kitchen her Mom busy cooking breakfast at the stove while her father read the morning paper.

Rona took a seat next to her Dad and smiled over at him. "Konnichiwa Otousan, anything new?" she asked him cheerfully.

Rowen looked at his daughter from over the top of his newspaper. "Depends on what you mean by anything new," he replied, but already figured he knew what she was inquiring about.

"Have the results on Lea's blood work come back yet?" Rona asked him. She sounded hopeful that it had and that everything was ok.

Rowen shook his head sadly at her, he had thought that had been what she had wanted to know about. "Sorry sweetie, but they haven't yet. It may be a few days yet," he told her with an apologetic smile.

Rona's shoulders slumped and her head bobbed down. Suddenly she didn't feel so happy anymore. Rowen caught his daughter's chin, smiling he lifted it so that she was eye level with him. "Hey, I'll let you know as soon as I find anything out, ok?" he asked her sweetly, knowing full well that she was worried about her cousin.

Rona smiled back at her father, reassured by his words. "Domo arigato, Dad," she replied.

Rowen waved her thank you off with a smile as he went back to his newspaper, "Don't mention it, sweetie."

Kyle, Rona's older brother, strolled into the kitchen yawning and wearing his school uniform for Han'a High. Kyle had his father's trademark hair style, but it was more of a midnight blue, two shades darker than that of his sisters. He also had his mother's blue eyes, but his fathers build. Kyle was a senior as was Hojo, Tye and Kayto. Ryu had graduated the year beforebeing ashe was at least two years older than they were.

Kyle walked over to his Mother, who was cooking, and hugged her planting a kiss on her cheek. "Mhm, that smells good," he said to her while grabbing an apple from the bowl on the counter and walking over to where his sister and father were sitting.

"Why such the long face, sis? I thought you'd be happy, it's a school day ya know?" Kyle teased his sister as he took a bite out of the red apple he had taken.

Rona glared at him moodily, "Get a clue, Kyle."

Kyle smiled back at his little sister, knowing that he had annoyed her, "You see that's the problem, Rona. Kernel Mustard stole my clue."

Rowen chuckled from behind his newspaper at Kyle as Kiylee smacked her son on the back of his head. "Kyle Hashiba, leave your sister alone boy or you won't like what I do, wakatta?" Kiylee warned him with a stern point of the spatula she held.

Kyle rubbed the back of his head and sheepishly smiled at his Mom. "Hai, Okasan," he mumbled to her.

Seemingly pleased with her son's answer, Kiylee turned her back on Kyle to return to her cooking at the stove. Rowen chuckled and glanced down at the watch on his wrist frowning when he had read the time. "Shouldn't you two be going now?" he asked his children.

Rona leaned over to look at his watch, gasping when she too had read the time. "I'm going to be late!" she shrieked. Giving her Mother and Father a kiss she grabbed her book bag, slung it over her shoulder and flew out the door. Kyle laughed and grabbed his own things slowly exiting the house with a wave and a good-bye to his parents.

Rowen shook his head as Kiylee turned from the stove with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face. "They get it from your side of the family, Kiy," Rowen replied to the look she gave him.

Kiylee blinked as if she had been taken off guard by his comment. "Oh, no. They get this from _your_ side of the family, Rowen Hashiba," she replied to him with a point of her index finger.

Rowen smiled to his wife as he got up from his seat at the table. He crossed the distance between them to hug her. "Ok, Kiy. If you want to believe that then go ahead, but we both know where they get it from. Just look at your brother's kids and then tell me again that they didn't get it from your side of the family," he told her with a playful smirk.

Kiylee only glared at him as he stole a bite of the food she was making and kissed her cheek before grabbing his keys leaving as the other two had.  
-

The sun peeked through the curtains on the big glass windows in the front room as Rylea awoke and rubbed her eyes to try to rid them of the sleep. Yawning she glanced up at her father who was sound asleep smirking she then looked over at the clock on the wall to see what time it was. Noting the time, Rylea decided to get up and get around for school thinking that she had enough time to get around and still get there in a reasonable amount of time.

Careful as to not wake her father, she climbed from his lap replacing the blanket over him and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. Ryo in turn groggily rubbed at his cheek with his hand and rolled over, falling back into a sound slumber. Rylea bit her lip to smother the giggle she felt coming and on silent feet turned from the couch where he slept to make her way back to her room.

Opening the door to her room, Rylea found Whiteblaze still laying on her bed where she had left him. Whiteblaze yawned and stretched at the entrance of the owner of the room he slept in. Getting up from his spot on her bed, he trotted out and down the hall to find his master. Rylea watched him leave before shaking her head and closing the door to her room. Glancing at the digital clock on her nightstand, Rylea panicked and got to finding her school uniform as fast as she could in the mess of clothes that lined her floor.

"Now where did I put that thing?" she pondered out loud to herself while searching through her closet. Finally finding the uniform, Rylea quickly threw the thing on and then exited her room to head to the bathroom to complete her morning routine.

A few moments past before Rylea came back into her bedroom. Heading to her dresser, she picked up the flame necklace Leinto had given her. Slipping it over her head it came to rest against her chest; coming to life as if it were a real burning flame as soon as the metal touched her skin. Rylea reeled back in surprise at the heat that was admitting from the necklace. Gently taking it into her hands, she examined the crackling flame as it glowed red for a few seconds before flickering out and returning to its crackling state. Shrugging her shoulders, Rylea let go of the necklace and it dropped to rest against her chest as she exited her bedroom shutting the door firmly behind her.

Ryo was awake now, rubbing his eyes tiredly with one hand as he held his steaming cup of coffee in the other. Whiteblaze laid at his feet, lazily watching his master. The stairs creaked and Whiteblaze's head came up to look over at them, as did Ryo's. Ryo blinked, thinking he must still be asleep or seeing things. He couldn't believe that the girl coming down the stairs, dressed and ready to go to school, could actually be his. He glanced over at the clock to check on what time it was and after seeing that it would be her usual time for departure, he considered the possibility that the girl was his daughter.

"Rylea?" he asked conscientiously, almost sounding baffled a bit.

Rylea's head jerked over in the direction her name had been said, surprise coming over her features at the sight of her father being up. "Hai," she replied and then added, "Gomen nasai Otousan, did I wake you?"

Ryo shook his head as he replaced the brown coffee cup back on the coffee table in front of him, a smile spread across his face. "No, Lea, you didn't," he answered her. "I'm just wondering where it is you think you're going."

Rylea laughed at him, seemingly thinking that his words were funny. "Are you sure you're ok, Dad?" she asked him with a smile as she went to grab her shoes from the door.

Ryo smirked at her question as he watched her disappear behind the wall that divided the front room from the front door hallway. "I'm fine, but I would like to know where it is you seem to _think_ you are going," he replied, his tone now more demanding than it had been at first.

Rylea hopped back into the front room while putting on her right shoe, struggling to tie it and keep her balance at the same time. Whiteblaze watched her try and tie her shoe while she still held it up with light humor. She lost her balance while trying to finish the loop she had started with the laces and ended up hopping over onto Whiteblaze's tail. The large feline gave a howl of outrage as he sprung up from his spot on the floor by Ryo's feet. Angrily, Whiteblaze looked down at his hurt tail and then back up at Rylea who was trying to hold back a laugh before padding out of the room without a glance back at either of the two.

"Whiteblaze," Rylea called after him with a grin on her face, "I didn't mean it boy."

"Rylea," Ryo said sternly to gain her attention again. "I asked you a question."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she replied sardonically while turning around to face her father's stern glare. "I'm going to school, alright? I thought it was pretty obvious by the fact that I'm wearing this dumb uniform and I'm up before noon."

"Oh," Ryo said with a shocked face as he sat back against the couch and placed his arms behind his head. "Are you now?"

"Hai," Rylea replied back, not liking how her father was acting. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, I don't know," Ryo retorted as he kept a cool almost mocking manner about him. "Maybe because I'm telling you that you're not going."

"Dad!" Rylea yelled at him in a half angry, half whining voice.

Ryo winced against the sting of pain her shout had made in his head. Already a slight pounding, almost throbbing sensation had begun in his temples. "Lea, don't yell at me," he muttered to her in an almost pleading manner.

"Why can't I go?" she asked him, her voice was much lower but still held that outraged ring to it.

Ryo groaned silently as he massaged his temples, trying to rid himself of the throbbing pain that was there. "Because I don't want you to go back yet. I don't think you're ready," he replied softly. Ryo didn't feel like arguing with his daughter at the moment, he was just too mentally drained to and hoped she'd just listen to him for once.

"You don't want me to?" she repeated his words in exasperation. "What about what I want? Maybe I think I'm ready to go back. Does that even matter to you?" Rylea could feel something starting to pace in her that something was more than happy that she was getting upset too.

Ryo sighed in nothing short of annoyance at his daughter. _How silly of me to think that she would actually just listen to me and mind. _"Rylea, to be honest with you, I could really care less about what you want or think," he told her flat out, anger now creeping into his voice.

Rylea growled, already feeling her temper close to boiling over. Not only that but she had this presence, or voice in the back of her mind urging her on urging her to let go of her temper and go off on her father. Before knowing what she was doing, Rylea had the portable phone in her hand and was throwing it at her father, the phone barely missing his head.

"Call Uncle Rowen and ask _him_ if he thinks I'm well enough to go to school!" she ordered him, her eyes now set into a flaming glare at her father.

Ryo gawked at his daughter as he held the phone that she had thrown at him in his hand, head slightly tilted to the side to keep from missing being hit by it. He couldn't believe that she had actually just physically almost hurt him, "Rylea-"

"Do it!" Rylea shouted, cutting her father off. Her temper was flaring its ugly head, but for some odd reason, Rylea felt as if another presence was causing her rampage.

Ryo frowned, not understanding why his daughter was so adamant on going to school he'd thought she would've been happy to stay home. Instead of calling his brother-in-law, Ryo put the phone down and took a deep breath. "No, I don't need to," he told her calmly. "Go ahead and go to school, Lea."

Rylea blinked several times as if coming out of a daydream, the sudden anger she'd just felt disappeared almost instantly. The anger she had just felt, quickly turned into guilt when she felt her father's confusion and concern. Thoughts that were going through his mind drifted in and out of her own as she stared at him. Guilt filled her as her eyes slowly drifted down to look at the floor unable to look him in the eyes anymore.

Ryo raised an eyebrow at Rylea's sudden mood swing. She'd gone from yelling at him to now looking guilty and having remorse for it. Not to mention she had looked baffled, almost like she didn't know what was going on, for a split second. Her sudden quietness concerned Ryo greatly. He didn't understand why she was now staring at the floor with her arms wrapped around herself. Without speaking a word, Ryo rose from his spot on the couch and crossed the distance between them to stand in front of her.

"Lea," he started quietly, his voice now softer than it had been before. "Are you ok and I want you to give me a straight answer."

She nodded mutely, still refusing to meet his questioning gaze. Ryo caught her chin gently with his hand and made her look at him. "Are you really, Lea?" he asked her again, his eyes searched hers for any indication that she was lying.

Rylea just stared back at her father, not being able to respond to his question. She wanted to tell him about the nightmares she had been having and the strange, unexplainable feelings, but couldn't find the words to tell him. How could she? She herself didn't even understand or fully comprehend what had been going, let alone try and explain it to her father. Finally breaking the gaze she stepped back from him and looked away.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I gotta go or I'm going to be late, Dad," she replied quickly before he could ask her anything else and headed in the direction of the door.

Sighing to himself for his daughter's persistent stubbornness, Ryo walked after her. "Lea, wait," he called after her.

Rylea groaned and whirled around to meet her Dad already prepared to blow off her father's questioning if needed to. Confusion hit her when he instead hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Lea," he told her sweetly with a warm smile.

Quickly coming out of her stupor, Rylea managed to hug him back. "I love you too, Dad," she replied before pushing herself from his embrace. "But if you don't let me go I'm going to be late and then _you_ can listen to Principle Tenkyua when he calls."

Ryo chuckled and reluctantly released her from his hold. "Alright, alright, I can take a hint," he replied with fake sadness, as if he had been mortally hurt.

Rylea snagged her book bag from its resting place by the front door and shouldered it while rolling her eyes to the sky at her father. "Ja ne, Dad," she said to him, placing a light kiss on his cheek and with a shake of her head at his antics, then strolled out the door.

Ryo stared after her fleeing form until he could no longer see her, before sighing and closing the front door to walk back into the front room. Ryu was now making his way down the stairs as Ryo came walking back into the front room. "Was that, Lea I heard leaving?" he asked him with a point of his thumb in the direction of the door.

Ryo sighed, feeling his headache starting to intensify, "Hai, did our little argument wake you?"

Ryu frowned, concern for his father shown in his brown eyes. "Yeah, I heard the whole thing," he replied. "Are you ok, Dad?"

Ryo chuckled lightly, "You know, you're the second person to ask me that."

"Second?" Ryu repeated with bewilderment.

"Yeah, Lea asked me the same thing. That was, right before she threw the phone at me anyway," he answered, smiling as if it were all one big joke to him.

Ryu's eyes grew considerably larger and his jaw almost hit the floor at what his father had said. "She threw the phone at you?" he asked in nothing short of amazement.

Ryo nodded his head, "Yep, I guess that's her way of saying good morning."

Ryu began to laugh, he couldn't believe that his sister would have thrown the phone at his Dad it just didn't seem possible to him. This all had to be one big joke. "Real funny Dad. Good one, I almost believed it too," he said, still chuckling some to his self as he entered into the kitchen.

Ryo shook his head at his son. "What did I do with them when they were little that would have caused this much brain damage?" he pondered out loud to himself.

"I heard that!" Ryu shouted from the kitchen.

Ryo merely laughed to himself and continued his way up the stairs. _A nice hot shower should loosen these tense muscles,_ he thought to himself while making his way to the bathroom.  
-

**A/N:** Ok, sorry to all my readers that it took me so long to get this chap done and up, but I was undecided on whether I wanted to continue it or not. I've made up my mind though and I will be continuing this story. Not only that but I might go back to do some renovating on other chaps, just to make them sound better. Also I thought I might add that this story is the sequel to, The Calling of Destiny. That's why this story is called, The Calling of Destiny: New Beginnings. If anything in this story doesn't make sense to you, than I suggest you read that story first. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story, it means a lot to me.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

RING

The lunch bell rang loudly through the halls of Han'a JuniorHigh as all the kids filed out of the classrooms and headed for the cafeteria. Rona walked into the lunchroom, spying her friends she glided over to the table they occupied taking a seat with an agitated huff. "I can't believe this," she grumbled out to no one in particular.

Keish flicked her blue eyed gaze over at the royal-blue-haired girl, a little perplexed by her attitude. "Nani?" she replied through bites of food.

Rona looked over at Keish, her purple-blue eyes sparkled with the anger she was feeling. "Lea's not here again!" she ranted loudly, making some of the kids at the table next to them look at her strangely.

"Well didn't we all expect Uncle Ryo to make her stay home again today?" Kami reasoned with her as she gave the kids who were still looking at them a smile of reassurance.

Rona sighed in frustration, trying to regain control of herself again. She ran a hand through her royal-blue-hair in aggravation before acknowledging they were correct, "Yeah, you're right."

"Yeah, well I say it's a good thing she's not here," Heather added as she searched the lunch room silently for a certain someone, trying to be discrete as well.

Keish glared at the pretty blond, not liking what she had said about her friend at all. "What was that, Date?" she asked her back, her blue eyes pointed in a glare at Heather.

"Heather, what are you doing?" Rona asked her crossly, obviously not liking the comment she had said about her cousin either.

Heather shook her blond head lightly and her hair swooshed to either side. "I'm just looking for that guy, Tadin. That's all," she replied nonchantly as she still searched the lunchroom.

"Oh, well I guess we won't bother you with our concerned chat about our friend then," Keish replied sarcastically and rather rudely to her.

"Keish," Kami reprimanded her wisecrack friend.

"Nani?" Keish replied innocently to Kami who only scowled at her more.

Heather let out a happy screech, startling the other three girls sitting around her as she began hitting Rona on the arm excitedly. "He's here! I knew he couldn't get enough of me," she giddily proclaimed.

Rona glared at her blond friend as she rubbed her sore arm where Heather had hit her in her moment of bliss, "Well, how nice."

Sure enough, Tadin strolled into the lunchroom and immediately walked over to the little group of four girls smiling brightly to them as the dingy blond neared the table. "Hi, you don't mind if I sit with you girls again, do you?" he asked them politely, already taking a seat between Keish and Kami.

Heather smiled flirtatiously at him, flipping her golden blond hair over her shoulder gracefully and then folded her hands on the table top. "Not at all. We'd love for you to join us," she replied for the rest of them.

Tadin smiled back at her. He knew Heather liked him and figured he could use that to his advantage sooner or later. "Thanks," he said as he took a seat at the table. "So um, how are all of you? Is your friend Rylea here today?"

Heather felt a stab of jealousy hit her at the thought that he was more concerned with where Rylea was, rather than talking to her or asking her out. Her smile faltered a bit, but she said nothing about it.

Rona sensed the change in her attitude and decided to speak before the blond could say anything. Shaking her head she replied, "No, Lea's not-"

"I'm not what?" came a voice from behind the royal-blue-haired teen before she could finish her sentence.

Rona's eyes went wide with realization of who the voice belonged to as she turned around, almost screaming with joy when she saw her cousin standing behind her with a bright smile on her face. "Lea, oh my gods!" she shouted and jumped up to envelope her surprised cousin in a tight hug.

"Gah," Rylea squeaked out. "Rona I can't breathe!"

Rona retracted her arms from around the smaller girl and smiled sheepishly at her. "Sorry," she muttered and then went right into the questioning. "Where were you today? Are you ok? How did you convince your father to let you come today?"

"Whoa," Rylea replied, holding her hands up as if to ward off her questions. "One question at a time please."

"Hey girl! Glad to see ya back," Keish exclaimed happily with a grin and wave of her hand.

"You sure you're feeling okay?" Kami asked her, concern evident in her sea green eyes.

"How nice to see you back," Heather added from behind gritted teeth with a strained smile.

"I'm happy to see you too, Heather. I'm fine, Kami, really. I'm glad to see ya too, Keish and I'll tell you later, Rona," Rylea said, replying and answering all of their questions.

Tadin smiled as he sized up the new girl in front of him. She was shorter than any of the other girls, except maybe Kami and was also darker skinned. He figured she wouldn't be much trouble for him. "So you must be this, Rylea they've been talking about," he put in after the other girls had finished saying what all they had to say to her.

Rylea looked over at the new voice that had added to the group. She blinked, thinking she had seen something different about him something almost evil looking. "Hai, and you would be?" she asked back, placing a hand on her hip in a challenging manner.

"I would be Tadin. Just transferred here about three days ago," he replied. Tadin smiled inwardly, he had seen her blink in confusion when she had looked over at him. _She must be the girl. I can sense that demon aura about her already._

Rylea frowned at Tadin, something about this guy put her on edge. There was just something about the way he acted that she didn't quite trust. He unnerved her, but also attracted her to him all at the same time. "Well, Tadin, I'm Rylea and don't believe most of the things they said about me. I'm not all that bad," she told him with a mischievous smile, extending her right hand for him to shake.

Tadin smiled back seductively and took her hand, bringing it to his lips he kissed it softly. "I'll keep that in mind," he murmured back in reply.

Heather's light blue eyes went wide at the sight of him flirting with Rylea and she clutched her hands tightly into fists under the table to keep from ripping Rylea's hand away from him.

Rylea half smiled in a nervous fashion at him, retracting her hand from his as Tadin's smile grew more. Rona looked from Tadin to Rylea and then at Heather, who was giving Rylea the dirtiest looks, as Kami and Keish smirked at each other in silent understanding.

"Lea, come on and sit down," Rona said as she ushered her cousin to sit next to her, which happened to be across from Tadin but away from Heather.

"So how is everyone?" Keish asked suddenly to try and start a conversation, gaining a few chuckles from the others around her as she smiled.

Tadin ignored Keish's question as he stared at Rylea. He was lost in his own thoughts, too wrapped up in his new finding to even care what they were talking about. _Now that I've found you, how am I going to convince you to come to our side?_ he pondered to himself as he stared at her, his eyes drifted over her, taking in her every feature. _She's beautiful, but then again so are her friends. Those eyes of hers though, I've never seen someone with such vivid blue eyes like hers. They just seem to pull you in the longer you stare in them._

Tadin blinked in surprise when he felt another power surround her and this power wasn't evil in the least bit. _Well now, what could this be? _Examining her aura further, Tadin was awestruck when he found a strong, red, aura surrounding her. _This feels familiar for some reason. Why do I feel like I've felt a power like this before? _he asked himself as he let his eyes and senses drift over the four girls sitting around him. A feral grin curled around his lips as he found blue, green, light blue and orange auras surrounding the other four girls. _Well now, what have I stumbled across here. Seems there's more to these girls than what meets the eye._

Rylea glanced over at Tadin when shebecame aware ofthe creepy feeling that someone was staring at her ---frowning when she found his steely blue gaze pointed on her. "You got a problem, Tadin?" she snapped at him irritably, not liking the fact that he was staring at her as if she had grown a second head or something.

"No," he replied calmly to her with a smile. "No, I don't."

"Then stop staring at me," Rylea retorted, her tiger blue eyes flashed dangerously with an inner fire.

Tadin smiled more at her, amused by Rylea's temper.

Keish looked between the two and then laughed, finding her friend and Tadin's behavior funny. "Hey, Lea, chill out. He jus' likes ya is why he's staring at ya," she stated with a wink over at Rylea who glared at her friend.

"Keish, say that again and I will-" Rylea started, but was cut off by the sounds of the lunch bell ringing loudly again, signaling that lunch time was over.

With much grumbling and complaining the five girls, along with Tadin, got up from the table they sat at, beginning to head for the exit and back to the teachers and work. Tadin thought quickly as they left the cafeteria for an excuse to see Rylea alone outside of school; grabbing her hand gently to stop her. "Hey Rylea," he said as she whirled around to look at him. "Could I um, see you sometime after school? You know, just to hang out or something. Maybe you could show me around so I can get to know this place better."

Rylea studied him for a moment before smirking with nothing short of amusement. "I don't know," she drawled out as if she were rethinking his offer. "You're not exactly the type of guy my Dad would like. Besides, who says I have the time to show new guys around?"

Tadin smiled at her comment, he was beginning to find her attitude more and more amusing. "Who said your father has to know?" he retorted, smiling enchantingly at her again.

Rylea laughed lightly as she pulled her hand from his and placed it on her hip in her usual stubborn way. "Don't let my Dad ever hear you say that or I can guarantee you that I won't be showing you around," she replied smugly. "If you really want to see me, you'll find me, Tadin." With one last smirk at him she turned on her heels and followed her friends down the hallway, leaving Tadin to stand alone.

Tadin smirked as he watched her walk away, disappearing down the hallway amongst the sea of kids and uniforms. "Playing hard to get are we. That's my favorite game," he mused to himself, his smirk slowly turning into a smile. _I'll get you sooner or later, demon,_ he proclaimed silently to himself.

Deciding not to stay any longer in the school, Tadin waited for the hallway to clear of the kids still trying to get to class before turning into a shadow and leaving.  
-

Ryo Sanada groaned at the stack of papers he had to go through. His headache was back now and the shower had done little for his aching muscles; he had problems both physically and mentally. Ryo sighed in frustration and glanced over at the stack of papers on his desk again, shuddering just at the thought of how long it was going to take him to get through it all.

His eyes drifted from the papers to the pictures that littered his desk, finding himself smiling even though his head was hurting him and his neck was aching. No matter how bad he was feeling, the pictures of his kids could always make him feel better.

Ryo chuckled as he gazed at the picture of Rylea's ninth birthday when Ryu had smeared cake all over her face. The nine year old Rylea in the picture was smiling and laughing even though she had vanilla cake on her face and even some in her hair. Ryo felt his self begin to become drawn into the pictures, almost reliving the moments over again as he examined them more. A small smile was beginning to form at the corners of his mouth as he looked over at the picture next to it.

This picture held an eight year old Ryu holding his then, four year old sister on his shoulders so she could see into the cages at the zoo better. Rylea was smiling her innocent, big smile and pointing at the monkeys in the cage. Ryo smiled sadly at the picture as he recounted the events of that day in his mind. _Those were the good days. Back then she always had a smile on her face and never yelled at me like she does now,_ he thought dryly to himself and glanced over at the next picture.

This picture had been taken at the beach, not too long ago. Everyone had gone to the beach to hang for the day a couple summers ago when they had taken this picture. The picture was actually of all the girls. Keish was on the end to the right, Kami was next to her and Rona was in the middle with Heather on her other side. All four girls were hunched over Rylea who was lying on her side being her normal, goofy self and acting like she was posing for a swimsuit catalog or something.

_She was smiling then too. Now I barely ever see that smile anymore,_ Ryo thought as he examined the picture, smiling at the memory the picture had conjured up. His trip into his happy memories was interrupted, though, by the sounds of the phone ringing on his desk; startling him back to the present.

Ryo sighed in annoyance as he picked up the ringing phone. "Hai?" he spoke into the receiver and placed the picture he had been looking at back amongst the others.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Sanada, but there is a Mr. Hiroshi here to see you. He says he has an appointment," a female's voice said from the other end.

_Mr. Hiroshi? _His mind reeled with the answer as to whom he was, but drew a blank. "If he says he does then send him in please," Ryo replied back to the woman on the other end as he rubbed his forehead.

"Sure thing, Mr. Sanada," the woman replied in that same practiced, cheerful voice.

"Thank you," he said and hung the phone up.

The door to Ryo's office opened as a traditional looking Japanese man cautiously walked in. He seemed to be in his mid thirties with brown hair and dark brown eyes. Ryo stood and greeted the man with a handshake and a smile. "Mr. Hiroshi, nice to see you," he said to him politely.

Mr. Hiroshi smiled back as he took Ryo's extended hand and shook it, "I hope I wasn't disturbing you."

Ryo smiled warmly as he shook his dark head. "No, no, I've just been busy lately and forgot I had an appointment with you today. Sit please," he replied, motioning for him to sit as he took his own seat behind the large oak desk.

"Thank you," Mr. Hiroshi said and sat in the leather chair Ryo had gestured for him to take.

Hiroshi scanned over the contents of Ryo's office silently, his eyes coming to rest last on the pictures that were placed on his desk. "These your kids?" he asked, looking over a picture of Ryu and Rylea.

Ryo glanced over at him, nodding with a smile when he noticed the picture he was looking at, "Hai, those would be my two kids Ryu and Rylea."

Hiroshi smiled kindly and replaced the picture on the desk where it had been sitting. He looked over the other pictures of them, "They seem like nice kids. Beautiful little girl you have, she looks just like you."

Ryo chuckled, everyone who saw the pictures or saw Rylea always said that to him. He was used to it by now and anticipated it, "Thanks, Lea will be fifteen July twenty-fifth."

Hiroshi blinked several times as if he had just been spoken to in a language that he didn't understand. "Fifteen, huh?" he repeated as if not hearing him right. "Well then, she's not a little girl anymore, is she?"

"No, she sure isn't," Ryo replied as he picked up a picture from the mass collection he had on the desk and handed it to him. "This is a more recent picture of her."

Hiroshi took the picture from Ryo and studied it with a smile. "Well, she may be older in this picture, but she still looks just like you," he said and handed the picture back to Ryo. "Are you positive she's turning fifteen, because she sure doesn't look it."

Ryo chuckled at his comment as he took the picture back, glancing at it briefly before replacing it back with the others. "Yeah, I'm sure. She doesn't look or act her age, but Lea will be fifteen."

Hiroshi nodded in acknowledgment, "I see."

Ryo cleared his throat and sat his folded hands on the top of his desk, getting back down to business, "Now then, what can I help you with Mr. Hiroshi?"  
-

Sage Date strolled out of his office and headed in the direction of the receptionist's desk. Already he could see Saksai on the phone, busy doing what she got paid to do. Saksai was a plump woman in her forties with graying dark brown hair she always wore back in a bun and honeydew brown eyes. She was nice, widowed with no children of her own. Saksai had that sweet, grandmotherly way about her and could cheer you up with her sweet charm.

Sage smiled at Saksai as he watched her writing down things and talking out loud to herself, obviously either ignoring him or hadn't seen him yet. "Afternoon, Saksai love," he said to her sweetly with a grin plastered on his handsome face.

"You have no messages, no mail, an appointment at two and if your wife calls, I'll be sure and tell her you're in a meeting," she replied instantly without looking up at him, still busily writing down things.

Sage laughed at her, amused that she knew him that well. "Well thanks, but that's not what I had come over here for," he told her with the same cool smile.

Saksai glanced up at him from where she was writing down notes on a pad of paper, smirking when she saw his smiling face. "Then did you come over here to bug me, Sage?" she retorted with a sly smirk. "I'm busy at the moment and have no time to banter with you right now."

Sage's smile grew at her words, enjoying Saksai and his joking. "Well then, I guess you have no time to tell me if Ryo's in or not do you?" he asked her as he leaned over the counter of the desk to see what she had been writing.

"Ryo's here, he's in a meeting right now though," she replied, batting him away as if he were a pesky fly. "Now would you please find something to do, I have lots of work to do."

Sage chuckled, his smile never faltering as he backed away from the desk Saksai sat at with hands held up as if he were in a stick up. He knew he was starting to bother her and Sage was loving every minute of it. "Aw, now don't be like that, Saksai," he retorted while trying to look ashamed. "You know I would have married you if I had seen you first."

Saksai laughed at his statement, Sage's teasing was nothing new to her. She had been working with him and Ryo for about thirteen years now and nothing he did was a surprise to her. "Hai, but you would have had to fight with my husband, may he rest in peace, for me," she stated back to the blond with an all knowing smile of her own.

"I think I would have won," Sage replied with a playful wink at her. "You like younger men don't you, Saksai?"

Saksai stopped her typing at the computer she sat in front of to look up at Sage with a perplexed, almost amused smile. "I wonder what your wife would say if I told her that you were hitting on me," she said, letting the question hang in the air as if it were a threat.

Sage laughed and shook his blond head at the aging woman, "You're too much for me, Saksai."

"I know," Saksai replied nonchantly as she went back to her work, typing away at the computer she sat in front of.

Sage chuckled as he glanced over his shoulder at the opening of Ryo's door, Ryo and Hiroshi walked from it together. Hiroshi smiled kindly and shook Ryo's hand. "I'll be in touch," he said to Ryo. "And tell your daughter I said happy early birthday."

Ryo smiled and nodded to him in a friendly manner. "I will, thank you," he replied to him.

Hiroshi smiled again as he walked away from Ryo, nodding respectfully to Sage as he passed him. Ryo cracked his aching neck as he made his way over to where Sage and Saksai were. "Saksai, please tell me that was my last and only appointment for today," he asked her, almost pleading with her to make it so.

"Yes, it was," Saksai replied sweetly to him as if she were talking to one of her grand kids. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I've just had a couple bad days," Ryo replied as he rubbed his tired eyes, the headache he had had earlier was starting to subside now.

"Oh you poor dear. Is everything okay?" she asked him with concern. Saksai acted more like an older sister or Mother to Ryo at times.

"Hey now, you never ask me that," Sage scolded, seemingly offended by Saksai paying more attention to Ryo than him.

"Well, I like Sanada-san better than you Date-san," Saksai teased with a cheerful smile at the tall blond.

Ryo chuckled as Sage glowered at Saksai, he was used to their good natured bickering. "Oh yeah, well see if I get you anything this year," Sage told her with a smug smirk.

Saksai laughed lightly and patted Sage's arm softly, she knew he didn't mean what he said, but played along with it any way. "Now, now, you know I was just teasing you," she told him with a grin. "I like you both, but I would like you both more if you weren't here bothering me while I'm trying to work."

Sage smirked at her teasing as Ryo merely smiled at the woman's words. Ryo knew her comment was more so directed at Sage than himself, since Sage was the one who never left her alone. "I get it. We can take a hint. We know when we're not wanted. Come on Ryo," Sage said as he motioned with a nod of his head for Ryo to follow him.

Ryo shook his head at the blond with an amused smile at how childish he was acting. With a smile, he turned back to Saksai before he left, "Hold all my calls unless it's an emergency, please, Saksai."

"Sure thing," Saksai replied as she typed away at the computer.

Ryo gave her one last smile before he turned and followed after Sage who had now gone into his office. _Now what does he want?_ Ryo thought in agitation as he went into his office and closed the door behind him.  
-

RING

The last bell of the day rang out as all the students of Han'a JuniorHigh filed out of the classrooms and headed for the exit signs. The day was over and all the kids wanted to do was get out of the confinement of the schools doors and head for a fun spot. Rylea was among those kids who filed out of the doors of the school. She smiled as the warm sun hit her face as she walked down the stone steps that lead to the school's entrance.

The girldidn't see any of the others and thought it was best that she didn't, all she wanted was to be left alone to think over her problems and the events of that morning. Being badgered and pressured into spilling what was wrong with her by her friends, was not what she wanted to have to deal with today. Sure she liked their company and advice they gave her at times, but today was just one of those days where she wanted to be alone to think.

Not really feeling like home was the best place to be right then either, Rylea decided to go to one of her favorite places. Heading off from the school, she went in the direction of the city instead of her usual route home. She had some money in her pocket and time to kill,her father wouldn't be home for at least two hours and being home alone with Ryu was not sounding too pleasant to her at the moment.

Walking down the streets of Toyama, Rylea was surprised to find so many tourists were roaming about. Usually they stayed around Tokyo, the capital of Japan, rather than coming around these parts. Twice she had to stop to help a tourist who couldn't speak the language and had no idea as to where they were. The people seemed elated that Rylea spoke perfect english and could help them ---they didn't really care how she knew english, just happy that she could. They would thank her profusely before going off in the direction she had told them to go in.

Smiling, Rylea continued on her way until she came to a large building bustling with people coming and going. Walking through the glass doors, she rode the escalator up to the second floor where she came to the food court in the mall. This place was where she would come to get away from everything and just think.

Gliding through the mess of tables that were set up, Rylea came to her favorite spot by the window where she could look out at the city. Taking her seat, she slid down into the chair, glancing out the window at the glistening sun and buildings that seemed to go on forever. A young waitress came up to her a few moments later to take her order. Rylea smiled politely to the lady and told her all she wanted was a pop for right now. With a cheerful nod the waitress went off to fetch her pop, coming back a few moments later with it.

Sipping unconsciously at the pop, Rylea watched as the people passed by her on their shopping spree. Mothers and their daughters chatted and smiled as they carried large bags that signified the shopping that they had done earlier. Without knowing, Rylea felt herself glaring at them, hating the fact that they had life so easy and were enjoying their time together. People she didn't even know she was giving dirty looks to and wishing the worst things possible would happen to them.

Instead of being happy that the girls her age were spending quality time with their mothers and having a nice time, Rylea was hating them, mentally cursing them to no end. Realizing what she was doing, Rylea looked away from the laughing and chatting mothers and daughters to stare out the window. _What am I doing? It's not their fault that my mother's dead and will never be able to do those things with me. Why should I hate them just because they have a privilege I don't?_

Rylea sighed and sipped at her pop until the gurgling sounds that meant she was out of the sugary substance sounded and then her thoughts caught up to her again. _Why _do_ I hate them so much?_

True, Rylea's mother was dead and had been gone for so long that she couldn't even remember her that well, but she still couldn't help but feel a sense of jealousy and longing to have that bond that kids had with their mothers. All she could see anymore when she looked at girls and their mothers was something that she would never have, something that she wanted desperately _to_ have.

Without even knowing that she was doing it, Rylea would find herself glaring at them more and more often. _I'm jealous of them is what it is. I hate them because they have a Mother, they have that bond that I wish I had. They have something that I will never have or get back no matter how much good I do or how much evil I take down. I can never have_ my _Mother back._

An angry tear slipped down Rylea's cheek and she quickly wiped it away, not wanting anyone to see her crying over someone she couldn't even remember anymore. It had been so long ago and she couldn't even remember what had happened that night, not even when she tried to. All she knew was what she had been told by her father and brother. All they could tell her was that she had been found half dead in the woods with her mother's pendant dangling from around her neck and that no one knew what had happened that tragic night.

Her brother had been at a friend's house and her father had been working late. The only people who knew what had happened was her and her mother, but her mom was dead, that left only Rylea with the memory of that night. _Why can't I remember it? I should know, but why can't I recall it?_

Her mother's death had been a mystery and a shock to everyone who knew them. No one could come up with a reason or justification for the slaying of Luna Sanada and the almost death of Rylea. It had been so long since any of them had had to fight evil that they didn't suspect that it had been done by some supernatural force. Her murder had simply been written off as unsolved and forgotten about.

Without the recalling of the events from Rylea they had no evidence to go on and no suspects. No traces of anyone else besides Rylea and Luna could be found in the house or even in the crime areas where Luna had been stabbed and Rylea had been dumped to die. The whole thing had been one big puzzle that was missing numerous pieces to the police and quickly forgotten ---the only witness to the crime was a little girl who couldn't remember a thing and that wasn't a big help to them.

Rylea idly twirled the container her pop had once been in as her mind raged on with thoughts of her mother and that horrible night and the events of that morning with her father. She couldn't justify her actions towards her father as simply just loosing her inherited 'Sanada temper' because that just didn't seem right. Something had been pushing her that morning, urging her to go on. Wanting her to lose her temper and go off on him, even bring him physical harm.

_This is getting out of hand. I have to tell him about what's been going on... But how? How am I going to explain this to him and him actually believe me? I don't even understand what's going on, so how am I going to make him understand? Maybe this is all just part of me coming to terms with my destiny. Maybe it has to do with getting my armor. Armor, oh gods training!_

With the sudden remembrance that today was one of her training days, Rylea flew from her seat at the table and rushed for the exit. Rylea was late as it was and now she had to try and get there before she was extremely late. _Leinto is going to kill me,_ she thought with a grimace while running down the sidewalk in the direction of the training area outside of the city limits.

People dodged out of her way and shouted angry protests at her mad dash down the sidewalk where they were walking, but Rylea ignored them and continued on ---their words meaning nothing to her, her mind was focused on getting to training as fast as she could.  
-

**A/N:** Ok, here's chap 8, I hope you liked it. Some of you are starting to catch on very quickly as to who the new demon is and on a few other things. You'll just have to wait to find out if you're correct though. Anyway, special thanks to Sifirela, MorganRay and Rogue. Muchos gracias mi amigas! Thanks for reviewing and reading my story.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The charge, Leinto, stood in his gray robes, silently seething over the fact that the leader of the Lady Ronins was late yet again for a training session. She was not taking her responsibilities as the bearer of the Wildfire armor or being the leader of the Lady Ronins seriously and it was starting to wear on the aging man. _I'm too old for this. Why can't she just get it together like the others? Her cousin behaves better than she does, thank the gods. I'm going to have to start punishing her in some way for this. Maybe then she'll start coming early. _Leinto mused to himself, enjoying his thoughts of punishment.

There was so much he had to teach all of them and Rylea was not making his task any easier with her constant stubbornness and the news he had gotten from his demon sources was not any better either. Word going around the demon community was that a new demon had been found and already there was a reward out for her. The fact that this new demon they were after was female and was just awakening to her powers, troubled Leinto he already suspected that something was happening to Rylea and he feared that she may be this new demon.

She was showing signs of it, little signs here and there, but that was enough to put Leinto on edge. If she was a demon or had any kind of demon connection in her, she would not be able to call forth the armor of Wildfire and that could pose as a problem for all of them. Without the leader of the Lady Ronins, the others would be significantly weaker. This was not something Leinto had been prepared for when he had first been assigned to them all then again he hadn't been prepared to handle five teenage girls either, but had to.

Leinto sighed heavily in annoyance as the time past by and still there was no sign of Rylea. Clearing his throat he got the attention of the other girls who were there, already in subarmor and ready for another day of training. _I guess we'll have to go on without her for right now. _"Alright girls, we're going to begin now," he instructed as he trudged over to stand in front of them.

Groans and complaints came from the group of girls as his answer some were even confused that he would start without the last member of their group. "Leinto we can't start yet," Keish protested adamantly while uncrossing her orange and white sub-armored arms. "Lea's not here yet."

"I understand this, but we have much to do and Rylea will just have to miss out on it for now. I can not make the rest of us waste valuable time on account of Rylea's lack of interest in training," Leinto reasoned with her.

"Just give her five more minutes and I'm sure she'll be here," Rona pleaded diplomatically, mentally cursing her cousin all the while.

Leinto smiled at the royal-blue-haired, Lady Ronin of Strata. He felt pity for Rona who was always trying to cover for her rebellious cousin. "I am sorry, Rona, but I can not. We must start now. I have only but a short time with all of you each day to teach you what you need to know and that time is being wasted on waiting for someone who obviously doesn't take any of this serious," he replied with a heavy heart, he did feel bad for the poor girl, but that didn't change anything.

"Leinto's right," Heather spoke up from where she stood next to Kami in her green and white subarmor. "Why should we be made to wait for her? It's not like she's any better than any of us."

"Whatever, Heather," Keish retorted angrily. "You're just still mad over the fact that Tadin likes, Lea and not you."

"I am not!" the blond protested back to being accused of such a thing. "Besides, he doesn't like her, he was just being polite to her. That's all."

"And she proves my point right," Keish replied with a wave over in Heather's direction.

"Stop you two, please," the light blue and white sub-armored girl peeped up, moving to stand in-between the two. Kami was considerably shorter and smaller than the two, but still felt that she could stop the argument.

Leinto sighed, smacking his forehead and then dragging his hand down his face as if he were trying to pull away all his stress. _This is hopeless. _He thought miserably with a shake of his head. "Girls, girls please try and leave arguments for after the training. We need to start now," he pleaded with them, hoping that someone would listen to him this time.

"Come on you guys, we've got work to do," Rona added to help Leinto out. "Let's show a little restraint here."

"Sure thing," Keish said with a smile at the blond she was arguing with before she turned away to face Leinto with crossed arms. Heather kept a glare on the ash-blue, Lady Ronin of Hardrock, but said nothing else to her.

"Now then," Leinto started when he had their full attention again. "Today we are going to-"

"Wait! I'm here! Don't start yet!" Rylea's voice yelled out as she ran to group up with them, cutting Leinto off mid sentence.

Leinto frowned at the sight of the youngest of the five, bent over with hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Rylea held up one finger as she kept her head down, still trying to regain her breath. "Jus' give me a min," she gasped out.

Leinto tried to keep a neutral face as he watched the dark brown-black haired girl catch her breath and then straighten her posture when she had, but his eyes gave away the fact that he was secretly laughing at her. Clearing his throat, Leinto once again tried to start the training. "As I was saying before I was interrupted," he started with an accusing glare over at Rylea who innocently looked away from him. "Today we will be working on your elemental powers."

"Great," Rylea proclaimed with a cheery smile. "Um, what's that again?"

The girls groaned and gave her annoyed glares as Rylea just shrugged and smiled innocently at them. Leinto rolled his eyes to the sky in silent prayer to give him strength. "Now all of you are in subarmor," he said and glanced around at the girls who were already in subarmor all of them except for Rylea. "Most of you anyway," he added with a frown at the still unarmored girl. "Were you planning on joining us today, Rylea?"

"Yeah, yeah, hang on," Rylea told him sardonically as she searched her pockets for her yori orb. Finding the red ball she tossed it in the air, grabbed it with her right hand and was quickly clad in red and white subarmor.

"Good," Leinto proclaimed to her joining them in training. "Now what I need you all to do is think about what your elements are and concentrate on them."

"Um, question," Rylea said, raising her hand timidly to be noticed by the graying charge.

Leinto groaned, _she does this on purpose... I know she does, _He thought helplessly. "What Rylea, what is your question?" he replied grumpily to her.

"What are our elemental powers exactly?" she asked him innocently.

"Lea!" the girls groaned in exasperation at her.

Leinto took a deep breath and counted down from ten in his head to keep from loosing his temper at her. He had to keep in mind that there was something going on with her and that she had just gotten back on her feet from her spout in the hospital. "Rylea, in your case, your elemental power would be fire. If you don't know what your elemental power is then look at the necklace I gave you and figure it out on your own. If you still can't figure it out, than I can't help you," he explained calmly to her but his voice let on just how annoyed he was becoming. "Now, pair up with someone who you can work with and both of you concentrate on getting your powers to work."

"Hey, um, Leinto. We have an uneven number of people so we'll need to have a group of three," Keish pointed out, already moving to stand with Rona and Rylea.

Leinto smirked, knowing full well that they would need a group of three and had already anticipated that the group of three was going to consist of Keish, Rylea and Rona. He wasn't sure if them being in a group together would be a good idea, given how Keish and Rylea acted when put together, but decided that Rona would keep them in check. With a nod he agreed to the pairing, "Go ahead Keish. You, Rylea and Rona can be the group of three."

"Yes!" Rylea cheered happily and then quickly regained her composure. "I mean, that's great."

Leinto gave Rylea a threatening glare, "If I don't see any work coming from that group, you'll be working with me, Rylea. Got it?"

"Yes sir," she replied to the charge in a way to pacify him. When he had turned his back on them to talk to Heather and Kami, she turned to Keish with a smile and said, "I think I'm starting to get on his nerves."

Keish smiled back and nodded her ash-blue head in agreement, "Yeah, I think so too. He looks like he could choke you like a chicken."

"Good, than I'm doing something right," Rylea proclaimed happily with a smile. "That's what my, Dad looks like too when I've annoyed him to the breaking point."

Keish laughed at her comment, "I know, I've seen him like that more than once."

Rona rolled her purple-blue eyes at her cousin, knowing full well that she was going to have to struggle to get her to do what she was supposed to do. "Alright, lets get to work guys," she commanded the other two girls.

"I'd love to, but I don't know what we're supposed to do," Keish stated to the royal-blue-haired girl.

"Great," Rona grumbled out. "Ok, I'm guessing that we each have to visualize what our power is and then concentrate on making it appear."

"Um," Rylea said with confusion clearly written on her face. "Right, whatever you just said sounds good."

"How 'bout you do it first so we can see what it is you're talkin' 'bout," Keish suggested with a smug smile, her arms now folded over her chest again.

"Fine," Rona replied crossly, she was growing agitated with the two. "I will."

"This outta be good," Rylea mumbled with a chuckle as she too crossed her arms over her chest, setting vivid blue eyes on her cousin as she waited for something to happen.

Rona turned from the two, taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and concentrated trying to picture a funnel of wind or something in her mind. Minutes past and still nothing seemed to be happening. Rylea yawned loudly, almost in a bored fashion and cast annoyed eyes over to her cousin, "Ah, I'm not seeing the action here, Rons."

As if to prove her wrong, the wind started to pick up around the three young girls. At the same time the necklace that rested against Rona's neck began to glow with a dark blue hue. The wind picked up more until it was blowing around them whipping their hair into their faces and rustling the branches on the trees. Leinto and the other two girls stopped what they were doing and turned startled glances over onto Rona who still held her eyes closed in deep concentration.

Leinto smiled in profound astonishment at her accomplishment. "Well done, Rona!" he applauded her when the wind had died down again to the calm breeze it had been.

Rona opened her eyes again, blinking to clear her vision and then looked around at the stunned faces of her friends. "I did it?" she asked back in perplexity.

"Yes," Leinto replied with a fierce nod in her direction. "Your power is air and that was a very good start. You managed to control the winds."

"Wow, how did you do that Rona?" Kami asked her sister in arms with a puzzled smile.

"I just envisioned the winds blowing that hard," Rona answered the light blue clad girl. "I guess that's all it took."

"Cool trick," Heather added disinterestedly, not finding the fact that her friend had managed to accomplish something that she hadn't yet, too exciting.

Leinto smiled proudly, feeling that maybe they weren't as hopeless as he had first thought. _Maybe there's hope for these girls yet. At least one of them seems to generally care about this and make an effort. Now if I can just get the rest of them to too, then I'll at least have a fighting chance._

Time was still running out though and even though one of them had learned to use their elemental power, that still left four others who needed to learn it too. Leinto felt a great burden placed on his shoulders the burden of getting the girls battle ready in enough time. They didn't even have their full body armor yet and time, he felt, was running out.  
-

Tadin walked out of his room wearing his usual outfit and headed for the door. He was on his way to go and see if he could pick up any good rumors or anything that could help him out. Sato and Adian were passed out on the couch or the floor from the party the night before, when he past them on his way out. Tadin found himself smirking at the thought of the hangovers they'd have when they finally woke up. "Idiots, I told them not to drink so much," he grumbled out loud to himself while opening the front door to exit from the penthouse.

"Hello, Tadin," a mans voice said from in front of him.

Tadin reeled back in shock away from the door, quickly catching himself before he fell though. "Sirous," he grumbled when noticing who was at the door. "Have you ever heard of knocking?"

Sirous lazily leaned against the doorway, his silver hair blew in the breeze that had picked up. "Did I scare you?" he asked him back with a raised eyebrow, a light smile stating to form on his lips.

"No, you just startled me," Tadin replied, angry that Sirous had even thought he'd scared him.

Sirous let a slow, easy smile spread across his lips at his reply. "I bet," he retorted and unfolded his arms from across his broad chest. "I just came by to see if you had found the girl yet."

"Yeah," Tadin replied, regarding the taller man cautiously. "I've also found something very interesting out about the girl and her friends."

Sirous studied him with his slate gray eyes, giving Tadin his full attention, "Go on."

"Rylea and her four friends seem to hold a strong power. I'm not sure what it is yet, but from what I've felt, it's very strong very strong, but untrained," he explained to Sirous who seemed less than intrigued by his findings.

"Interesting," Sirous replied with a lazy smile. "Very interesting. You're regarding the new demon by her name, I take it?"

"Yeah, is there a problem with me doing that? She is still a person and I need to earn her trust before I can start the crossing over. The only thing is," Tadin said and let his words hang in the air as if he needed to think more on what he was going to say. "I don't think she's aware of what she is. I don't even think she's awakened to her powers yet."

"I see," Sirous replied and stroked his chin in thought. "Well then, I guess when you turn her to our side we'll just have to teach her won't we?"

"Yes, but I don't think it'll be that simple. Her powers are awakening slowly, I can sense them, but these other powers I sensed is what worries me," Tadin voiced his concerns with a frown.

"She's a hybrid. Her cravings and instincts will brush over those," Sirous informed him as he began to walk away from Tadin. "Just keep an eye on her and her friends."

Tadin glared at Sirous' back, feeling that Sirous knew something about Rylea and her friends that he wasn't filling him in on for some reason. Sirous was too quick to brush his concerns off he didn't seem worried by the fact that she and her friends had other powers as well. _I'll figure that 'what' part out sooner or later, Sirous. You can bet on it._

With a sly grin, Tadin turned from Sirous' fleeing form and headed in a different direction. He had things to find out and a plan to come up with. Finding the new demon was only half his problem, now he had to convince her of what she was and get her to cross to their side before time ran out.  
-

The sun was setting low, spreading orange and yellow colors streaking across the sky and the tops of the trees. Night was coming and soon all would be dark, but that didn't seem to bother the young bearer of Wildfire who stood out in the middle of her back yard with her back to the house she seemed very content with the setting sun. Ryo sat on the back deck of his house, watching his daughter standing, as if she were concentrating on doing something with a sense of perplexity he really had no idea as to what she could be doing. Whiteblaze laid at his side, dozing quietly and staying as far away from Rylea as he could. The tiger was still upset with her over the hopping on his tail incident that had happened earlier that morning.

Ryu came out onto the deck, ending a conversation with a friend on the phone and took a seat next to his father in one of the lawn chairs. He pointed out at his sister with his thumb, a questionable look on his face. "What's little miss priss doing?" he asked him with a smirk.

Ryo rolled his tiger blue eyes over to lay on his son with a look that said exactly what he thought about his comment. "I don't know what she's doing, but it's almost time for her to come in," he replied and lazily rolled his head back to stare out at the back yard.

Rylea stood, staring out at the endless trees that surrounded the property her house sat on. She was trying her hardest to copy what she had seen her cousin do, but for some reason it wasn't working out as well as it had for Rona. With a groan of agitation, she snapped her eyes open and gave up on trying to get her power to work. "This is pointless," she grumbled out as she let gravity pull her down to rest on the ground beneath her. "How did Rona do that?"

Ryu smirked, trying to suppress the laugh he knew was coming. Rubbing the back of his head, he glanced over at his father. "I'm guessing she gave up," he told him with a wide grin.

Ryo rolled his eyes at his son, "Well aren't you smart."

"Yes, actually I am," Ryu retorted with a superior grin at him. "I graduated from Han a' High, didn't I?"

Ryo smacked his son upside his head playfully ruffling his brown hair affectionately with a smile. Ryu grumbled protests to his actions and grumpily pushed his hand away from his hair, trying to smooth it back to the way it had been before. Ryo chuckled at his son and stood, stretching his arms and shouted out to his daughter, "Lea, move it girl. Time to come in!" When she didn't respond to him or seem to be in a hurry to move, Ryo looked down at his faithful white tiger to do the job. "Go get her blaze," he ordered the tiger.

Whiteblaze stretched, lazily getting up from where he had been sitting. Glancing up at his master he threw him, what could have been, a glare as he padded off the porch and down to get his master's daughter. Ryo turned from the tiger and headed back inside as Ryu stayed in his seat to watch the poor feline drag his sister back to the house.

Whiteblaze approached the young girl timidly curiously watching her lying on the ground, mumbling things to herself. Cautiously, Whiteblaze came up to her, nudging Rylea to try and get her up when she didn't move the tiger kept nudging her. Rylea growled and sat up, getting the hint that he wasn't going to leave her alone until she was up and moving in the direction of the house. "Alright! I get the picture, blaze," she yelled angrily at the white tiger who only glared back at her in annoyance.

The tiger stared at her a moment longer until he had had enough of waiting for Rylea to make up her mind. Deciding that she had had enough time, the white tiger grabbed a hold of the back of Rylea's shirt dragging the girl along behind him as he made his way back to the house. Rylea gave a howl of protest at the tiger's actions but it meant nothing to him, Whiteblaze simply ignored her and continued to drag the girl behind him by the shirt. Laughing from the porch could be heard as Whiteblaze got closer and closer to it. Rylea recognized the voice of the laughing person as her brother this only infuriated her more. _How dare he laugh at me! Grr... he's gonna pay big time when I get loose!_

Without warning the flame necklace she wore around her neck began to glow with a red aura and fire sprang up from the grass in front of Whiteblaze. The tiger, surprised, dropped the girl and jumped back from the fire managing to escape with only singed whiskers.

Ryu sprang up from where he sat on the porch at the sight of the fire, cursing in his startled confusion. He looked from the fire that was still crackling to his sister who was sitting on the grass, looking as surprised as he was somehow he knew that she had something to do with it though. "What's going on out here?" came Ryo's voice as he stepped back outside onto the back porch.

He stopped in his tracks at the sight of the flames, peering at them as if he were reading something, and looked over at Whiteblaze who was glowering about something before he flicked his gaze back and forth between his two kids. "Alright," he said finally after a few moments had past and no one seemed to want to explain the flames that were still burning his grass. "Who wants to explain this one?"

Ryu raised his arm and pointed to his sister without saying a word. Ryo sighed, figuring he would do that and turned his questioning gaze over to his daughter the question in his gaze turned to a frown quickly when he found her slowly making her way to the flames. "Lea, what are you doing?" he asked her but he sounded more worried than confused.

"I wanna," Rylea started as she stared at the fire as if she were in some kind of a trance her hand came up from her side and extended out as if she were going to grab the flames. "See something."

"Rylea that's fire, don't you dare touch it," Ryo scolded her, already moving to intervene if he needed to.

Rylea ignored his warning, almost acting as if she hadn't even heard it. Timidly she reached out to the flames fascinated by how they crackled and flickered. Ryo shouted at her to stop, but she wasn't listening to him anymore, she was more focused on the beautiful orange and red flame in front of her. Reaching out with her hand, Rylea at first waved her whole hand through the flame quickly seeing that nothing happened, she held her hand in the fire and again nothing happened to her. The fire simply danced and licked at her hand, not burning her at all. Rylea sharply looked up at her father and brother, smiling at her new finding Ryo and Ryu's jaws had now dropped and their eyes looked out of focus. She smiled at them and held her hand up to show them that she was fine and had no burns.

"How-" Ryo started and then did a double take on what he had just witnessed. "How did you do that, Lea?"

"Great, now my sister is that little girl from Steven Kings book, Firestarter," Ryu grumbled out as he got a hold of himself again.

Rylea ignored them, focused more on running her hand back and forth in the fire like you would in a pool. She was enjoying being able to play with the fire and not get burned feeling only a warm heat being admitted from the flames that should have been burning her flesh. A lot of ways to get back at her brother when he was being mean to her were starting to unfold in her mind. Ryo stepped closer to her, not wanting to get near the flames since he was not in armor, but he wanted to get his daughter's attention. "Lea," he said and she looked up at him. "How did you do that, Jouchan?"

"It's my elemental power," she replied simply as if that should be enough of an answer for him.

"Ok," Ryo responded, still confused as to what she was talking about.

Rylea frowned in concentration as she forced the fire to die down and smother out leaving nothing behind but a burnt patch of grass where it had been. When the fire was gone she brought the hand she had had in the fire up to examine it more closely checking it over and over. "I guess I can make fires and," she said, still looking over her hand. "Because I can make them... I can control them too."

"Great, even better," Ryu exclaimed as he threw his hands up into the air. "Now my little sister is a walking lighter."

Ryo glared over at his son, wishing he would just stop his unnecessary bantering. He wasn't making the situation any better. "Lea, sweetie," he started again in a calm voice. "Why don't we just go inside and we can talk about this later. Just you and me."

Rylea nodded her head slowly in acknowledgment to her father as she looked up from examining her hand following after him and her still ranting brother. A smirk curled around her lips as she thought about her new gift. _I can control the flame...because I'm the fire. _She thought as she looked down at the crackling flame pendant that hung around her neck.  
-

**A/N:** Wow, what a way for me to end a chap and leave ya'll in suspense. I love it! Anyway, thanks to Sifirela, MorganRay, BlackBull289 and Two-BitGortez for sendin me in a review. You guys are so sweet! lol and I'm gettin very interesting feed back from you guys on this story and let me say this... you guys aren't too far off but that's all I'm gonna say! Chap 10 is already in the process of being started so look forward to seeing another chap from me by this weekend. Ja ne!


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

A cool breeze rustled the white curtains on the open windows, causing them to sway up and then fall back against the window. Crickets chirped outside somewhere in the night, their sounds floating through the open window. Rylea sat cross legged on her queen size bed in her wife beater and black sweats, a lap top sat in front of her, its screen lit up with the beginnings of her homework and internet explorer.

Whiteblaze dozed at the foot of her bed, half watching the girl as she examined the flame pendant Leinto had given her. The orange and red flame blazed as if it were a burning fire every time her flesh came in contact with it and it even felt warm to the touch. _It's beautiful, but what exactly is this thing?_ Rylea pondered while turning the thing over and over in her hands.

A knock at her door jerked Rylea from her thoughts momentarily. She looked up at her door briefly to say, "Come in," before going back to the necklace and her thoughts, her tiger blue eyes set into a piercing frown of concentration on the necklace in her hands.

The bedroom door opened and closed, but Rylea didn't bother to look up to see who the person was that had just entered her room, she was too engrossed in the necklace to even notice that her father was now sitting on her bed positioned in front of her.

"What's that?" he asked her, now too, looking at the necklace she held in her hands.

Rylea jumped, startled by his voice. She looked up at him, blinking as she now noticed him sitting on her bed. "What's what?" she replied back with a confused expression, wondering how he had appeared in her room.

Ryo pointed to the flame pendant she held in her hands again and repeated his question, "What's that?"

Rylea glanced down at her hands and then held up the necklace for him to see, "This? It's just something Leinto gave me."

"Really," he replied and looked it over critically before then glancing at his daughter. "Any idea why he gave this to you?"

Rylea put the necklace back over her head where it came to rest against her chest, next to her Mother's pendant. "He gave all of us one," she explained. "Each one matched our attributes. He said something about them enhancing our elemental magic or something along those lines."

"Elemental magic?" Ryo repeated with a raised dark eyebrow.

"Yeah," Rylea replied. "How did Leinto Explain it? Ok, each of our armors derive from an element. Mine is fire, hence the flame pendant, so my elemental magic or power would be fire." Handing the flame pendant over to him she said, "Here, I wanna see something."

Ryo took the flame pendant in his hand, the flame coming to life as it had when Rylea had touched it, crackling and blazing as a real fire would. He blinked as if surprised that a necklace could do that. Rylea smirked and took the necklace back from him, "I guess that means only Wildfire bearers can make this thing glow."

"Nani?" he said, not quite getting what she was saying.

"Ok, whenever I touch this thing, it does the same thing and I was just curious to see if it would react the same way to you," Rylea replied logically to her father. "And it did, which proved my suspicion right."

Ryo blinked several times as his brain slowly digested and comprehended what all his daughter had just informed him of. Most of it made some sense to him, but other parts of it he wasn't too sure about. "Right, ok I think I got all that," he said with a smile at his daughter. "I'm surprised that you actually paid attention to Leinto for once though, Lea."

Rylea glared at her father's smiling face, playfully shoving him away from her, "Shut up, Dad," she told him, feeling insulted by his teasing.

Ryo chuckled at her antics, knowing that she was playing with him and really wasn't all that mad. A soft smile came to his face as he studied Rylea for a moment or two, actually taking the time to notice just how much she had grown and how much she reminded him of her Mother at times. Yes, Rylea was a female carbon copy of himself, but at times she acted more like her Mother with her sarcastic attitude.

He smiled softly at the pendant dangling from her neck as his eyes came to rest upon it, gently taking it in his hand, smoothly running his thumb over the top of it. "Your Mother almost never took this off," he told her, letting it go to fall against Rylea's chest.

Rylea looked down at the pendant, cradling it in-between the palms of her hands as if it were some fragile thing, as she looked it over. She looked up at her father with beseeching eyes now while saying, "Dad, tell me something about Mom; something nice."

Ryo eyed his daughter for a moment, not quiet understanding her sudden interest in memories of her Mother. She never asked about her Mother and he wasn't really sure that he even wanted to go back and drag up memories, even if they were good ones, of Luna ---it was still too painful for him.

As if reading his thoughts, Rylea piped up apologetically, "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked... I know it's hard for you."

"No," Ryo replied, pulling his daughter into his lap. "You want a memory of your Mom and a memory you shall get."

Rylea smiled up at her father, snuggling closer to him. "You sure?" she asked him hesitantly. "I mean, I understand if you don't want to."

"No, Jouchan, it's ok. Its been too long and I think it's about time that I started letting go," he replied thoughtfully as he stroked his daughter's hair softly and began to think of a memory for her. There were so many good memories of the times he hadspent with Luna that it was hard for him to pick just one. He smiled and looked down at the girl in his arms as a memory came to him.

"You know, you were your Mom's pride and joy," he said to her. "She was always dressing you up in the cutest outfits, even though you hated them, and parading you around like a gold medal. You were her, little Lea angel, as she used to call you."

Rylea smiled at his words, glancing up at her father with a shy smile, "Really?"

"Yeah, really," Ryo replied with a fond smile down at her. "She loved you more than anything in the world, Lea. From the time they brought you in that room for her to see you, from the moment you laid those pretty blue eyes of yours on her and smiled, she was forever hooked."

Then he added off hand, "As was most of the staff who worked at the hospital."

Rylea laughed at her father, wrapping her arms around his chest in a hug. "So I've heard," she said with a smile, trying to picture her Mom and that day in the hospital. "Dad?"

"Hm?" he replied with a glance down at her.

"Do you," she started and then rethought what she was going to say carefully. "Do you think Mom's proud of me? Do you think she still loves me even though I can't remember her anymore?"

Ryo stared down at his daughter, taken back by her question. He knew that she probably didn't remember her Mother as well as Ryu or he did, but didn't think that she had completely forgotten about her. Smiling in understanding as to why she had all of a sudden requested memories of her Mother, Ryo replied, "Yeah, Lea, I know your Mom does."

Catching her chin with his hand he tipped her face up to look at him, "I know your Mom is proud of you because I'm proud of you, Lea and it doesn't matter if you can remember her or not because as long as you think of her, she'll always love you."

Rylea eyed her father silently, contemplating what he had said to her. His words made sense to her and almost filled that empty place she felt, but not completely. She didn't think anything would ever fill that empty hole she had, that nagging feeling that she was missing a big part of her. "Thanks, Dad," she said with a smile. "I feel better knowing that, even though I don't believe a word you said."

Ryo chuckled and hugged her close. "Oh Lea, Lea, Lea," he mumbled with a smile.

"Oh Dad, Dad, Dad," she mumbled back mockingly with a broad grin. "How you annoy me to no end."

Ryo smirked more in mirth than anger, finding his daughter's sarcastic teasing amusing. "I annoy you huh?" he replied back, snuggling his daughter like she was a teddy bear.

"Gah, Dad! Let me go!" Rylea protested adamantly to his snuggling, trying to pry herself from his grasp.

Ryo laughed, but did as she had requested letting her go as she was in the middle of pushing herself from his grasp and watched her fall back onto her bed. Whiteblaze lifted his large white and black striped head to glare at the two, annoyed that he had been disturbed while trying to sleep. He didn't appreciate it one little bit and wished that they would stop it.

Rylea glared up at her father angrily as he laughed at her, not finding what he had done funny in the least bit. Growling she kicked him in the leg and yelled moodily, "Shut up!"

"Ow, hey now," Ryo mumbled through his chortling mirth, wiping the tears from his eyes from his laughter. "You don't have to be abusive, Lea."

"With you I do," she retorted, sitting back up on her bed on crossed legs and stuck her tongue out at him.

Ryo smiled at her, amused thoroughly by her antics. He was glad she was acting like her normal, playful self instead of like her demonic twin, like she had been for the last couple of weeks. Smirking he flicked his gaze from his daughter to the lap top that sat open on her bed turning it so that he could see the screen better. "Doing homework?" he asked wryly when he found the open internet explorer and mailbox on the screen.

Rylea glared back at him testily and grabbed the laptop from him, shutting it so that he wouldn't be looking at it. "Does it matter to you?" she asked back.

"When your report card comes in and I don't see good grades it will," he threatened her, knowing full well that he'd just lecture and never discipline her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she replied nonchantly with a disinterested wave of her hand. "You always say that."

Ryo smiled at her reply as he petted the white tiger lying next to him on her bed scratching him behind the ears as Whiteblaze purred in response. Stopping, he lazily got up from where he had been sitting, stretching his arms over his head. "Ok, Jouchan, time for bed. The laptop needs to be turned off and you need to be in bed in ten minutes, wakatta?" he told her as he leaned down to give her a good night kiss.

Rylea slanted her dark eyebrows into an agitated glare at her father and moved her head away from him irritably. Ryo only smirked at her actions, he had annoyed her and this was her way of getting back at him. "So is it gonna be like that, huh?" he asked her in a playful voice, trying to act mad even though he really wasn't as he grabbed her into a hug smothering her face with kisses as Rylea protested angrily and tried her best to wriggle free from her father's grasp. Laughing, Ryo let his daughter go and smiled happily at the glare she gave him, relishing in the glory of his triumph.

Rylea glared at him angrily as she wiped at her face, trying her best to rid herself of the kisses he'd left there. Ryo only smiled more at her, "Oyasumi nasai, Lea," he told her, ruffling her hair before walking out of her bedroom and closing the door behind himself.

"Good night, Dad," she mocked at the closed door, sticking her tongue out and pulling down on her bottom eyelid as she did so. Whiteblaze stared at her as she grumbled things to herself while shutting her laptop off and placing it on her nightstand before climbing under her covers.

He shook his large head at her in mirth and laid it down on his paws, finally thinking that he could fall asleep since she was now going to sleep herself. The room fell silent as sleep settled over the two occupants of the room. The curtains on the windows continued to billow out as the breeze blew outside ruffling Whiteblaze and Rylea's hair in the process. The chirping crickets outside went eerily quiet though as if they sensed an unseen presence amongst them in the dark.  
-

Rowen walked into his house, closing the door behind him as he leaned against it with a heavy sigh. He looked as if his day had not gone good and had a lot of bad news kind of like when you've had one of those days where nothing goes right and then you get the worst news of your life.

Kiylee came around the corner from the front room, smiling when she saw who had come in. "Konnichiwa, koibito," she greeted him happily, her smile turning into a frown at the look on his face.

"Hey, Kiy," he replied back glumly and tried to force a smile at her he didn't manage to though, he had too many thoughts on his mind.

"Ok," Kiylee said as she placed her hands on her hips. "What happened? Did one of your patients die?"

Rowen shook his blue head, a smile coming to his face at her. He took a deep breath and a ran a hand through his already messy cerulean blue hair. "Where's Rona?" he asked her simply.

Kiylee frowned at her husband in confusion, pointing back down the hall from where she'd come. "She's in her room. Is this about, Lea, Ro?" she queried of him.

Rowen gave her a solemn nod before stepping around her to walk down the hall towards Rona's room. What he needed to tell Rona did concern his niece and keeping to his promise, his daughter was going to be the first to know about it. Coming to her door, Rowen stopped outside it and knocked on the door waiting outside it for the "come in" before he entered into her room.

"Hey, Rons," he said as he walked into her room, trying to act as cheery as he could so as to not alarm her.

Rona looked up at him from where she was lying on her bed doing her homework, "Hi."

"I've got something I need to tell you," he told her, taking a seat next to his daughter on her bed.

Rona peered at him in confusion as she sat up, sitting on crossed legs now. "Yeah? What would that be?" she asked him back, closing her books and giving him her full attention.

"Yeah, um," he stuttered out, trying to figure out just how he wanted to word what he was about to tell her. "Lea's blood work came in today."

"And?" she replied, now intrigued as to what the results had been.

Rowen took a deep breath before he said anything, making sure he knew just how he was going to say it. "Rona, what come back didn't make any sense to any of us," he told her, frowning lightly as he remembered the conversation he had had with his colleagues about her results.

Rona's face took on a blank look as she stared at him, not really understanding what he was saying to her, "What do you mean it didn't make sense?"

Rowen sighed, rubbing the back of his head in thought. "Rona, what came back is something that none of us have ever seen before. Her blood is a type that doesn't even exist."

"How-" Rona started and then rethought what she was going to say. "How is that possible? Explain a little more for me, Dad."

"Ok, Rona this doesn't make sense to me, but I'll try and explain to you just what I saw," he told her, clearing his throat before he continued. "When her blood results came back, the lab technician actually came and found me to show me what he had found. He kept rambling on about how it didn't make sense that her blood would look like that and seemed very intrigued and almost worried. At first I didn't believe what he was saying and thought that maybe he was just making it up but when I saw her blood-"

Rona's purple-blue eyes slanted into a frown at her father as he trailed off in thought, stopping mid sentence to almost rethink what he was saying as if he still didn't believe what he was saying was true. "Dad, what did you see? What is wrong with her blood?" she asked her father, snapping him from his thoughts.

Rowen looked over at her, studying her face for a moment before he responded to her question. "Rona, her blood looks as if it is something right out of a science fiction movie or has been mutated in some way. It's something that I've never seen before. I can't even explain to you what it is, because I myself can't think of a way to explain it," he told her, his voice letting on how confused and almost scared he was. "That's the best that I can say it."

Rona shook her head, not wanting to believe what he had said to her. How could her cousin, her best friend, have a blood type that was something that was confusing even to the top doctors in the world? What had her father actually seen that could have baffled him to the point of where he couldn't even describe it? "I don't understand," she whispered out in utter confusion.

"I know," Rowen replied just quietly, his brain was still reeling over what he had seen. "I don't understand it either."

Rona racked a concerned hand through her royal-blue-hair. "I've got to tell, Lea. She needs to know," she said and reached out for the phone on her nightstand.

"Rona no," Rowen replied and grabbed her hand before it could touch the receiver. "Let me tell her and Ryo tomorrow."

Rona stared at him a little uneasily, almost as if she didn't believe he would. "Please?" Rowen pleaded with the look his daughter was giving him. "Let me be the one to tell them."

Rona sighed and dropped her hand back to her side, "Alright, you can tell them. It would probably be best anyway."

Rowen smiled at her, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. "Thanks, I get paid to tell people bad news, remember?" he said to her jokingly with a smile.

Rona smiled softly, laughing lightly at his joke, "Yeah, I remember."

Rowen smiled at his daughter, caressing the side of her head softly. He knew she was upset and puzzled just as much as he was over the new events. "Hey, don't worry about this. Nothing is going to happen to her, at least I don't think and I promise that I will inform, Ryo about this tomorrow," he stated, hoping his words would console and ease her worried mind.

Rona glanced up at her father, her purple-blue eyes gave away how desperately she wanted to believe him. Rowen felt his heart break at that look seeing his daughter looking so desperate, so afraid, made him feel horrible. He wished that there was something that he could do, something he could say to take all that pain and anxiety away, but nothing he could do or say would.

Feeling like he had to do at least something, Rowen gathered his daughter into his arms and held her close rocking her back and forth like he had when she was little. Rona just snuggled into his embrace, trying to rid herself of the new problems she had. Rona trusted her father and if he said that her cousin was going to be ok and that he was going to tell her Uncle Ryo tomorrow, then she believed him. What else could she do, but trust him?  
-

The sun beat down brightly from the cloudless blue sky above the city, giving no relief to the bustling city and occupants below. Kami held a hand over her sea-green eyes to block out the sunlight as she walked along the sidewalk with Keish and Rylea. It was another hot, July day and the chance of rain ending the tyranny of the sun didn't seem to be in the forecast for a while. The petite brunette of Torrent fanned her face in a futile attempt to cool herself and looked over at her other two friends walking along side her.

Keish seemed to be just as annoyed by the heat as she was, but Rylea didn't seem to be having a problem with it. The fact that Rylea looked to be almost comfortable in the sweltering heat didn't surprise Kami.She was, after all, the Lady Ronin of Wildfire. Keish groaned in aggravation to the scorching heat.

"Man, could it get any hotter? I feel like I'm gonna to start melting here pretty soon," she protested while pulling her ash-blue hair up off the back of her neck.

Kami smiled at her friend's protesting and looked over to Rylea who had her thumbs tucked into the back pockets of her blue jean shorts, walking along next to them as if the heat had no effect on her. "How are you and the heat doing, Lea?" she asked her, already knowing what her answer would be.

Rylea glanced over at the brunette, smiling at her comment. She knew that Kami was trying to be funny. "Heat and I have a beautiful relationship," Rylea replied with a smile at her water loving friend.

Keish snorted at her remark, "Yeah, well tell your lover heat to tone it down a bit. I can't take much more of this."

"I would, but I'm loving this hot weather too much to ask him to," Rylea stated sarcastically back to the taller girl next to her.

Keish smirked and turned her head to glare down at the shorter, dark brown-black haired girl. Kami, sensing an argument might start, decided to speak before it could. "Hey you guys," she said, gaining their attention. "Why don't we get some ice cream or something cold since we're out in the heat. Maybe it'll cool us down."

"Hey, now that's the way to use that brain," Keish replied, hugging the shorter girl around the neck with one arm. "I like the way you think, Kami."

"Thanks," Kami responded, taking the arm of her friend from around her neck. "I'm glad you do."

Rylea shook her head and her shaggy dark hair swung to either side as she smiled in mirth at the two; picking up her pace and walking ahead of them in the direction of the ice cream vendor in front of them. "Come on you two," she gestured with her arm for them to follow her. Smiling to each other, Keish and Kami quickly stepped up their pace to keep up with the girl in front of them.

After paying for their ice cream, the three girls continued on their way down the sidewalk of the inner city of Toyama, glancing in the windows of the stores they passed as they licked at the ice cream they'd bought and talked. As the girls rounded the corner on their way back to Rylea's house, a hand came out from behind them and grabbed a hold of Rylea's arm. Immediately the young ninja swung around, ready to karate chop the person who had grabbed her.

"Hey!" a voice of a man shouted at her, grabbing the arm she had tried to hit the person with.

Rylea blinked up at the person who stood before her as Keish and Kami came up behind her, ready to fight if needed to. "Tadin?" she asked, baffled by the appearance of him.

Tadin smirked, his head was leaned away from her outstretched hand that had been aimed at his head, that he now held. "Yeah," he replied back. "Is this how you greet everyone?"

Rylea smirked back at him, amused by his comment as she surveyed his outfit; dark blue jeans with a black muscle shirt. "Only people who sneak up on me like you did," she retorted sarcastically.

"So I see," he said, smiling as if he knew a secret, towards her, Keish and Kami. "I guess asking you what a little thing like you and your friends are doing out walking the streets without protection would be kind of stupid?"

Rylea narrowed her vivid blue eyes into a glare at the dingy blond in front of her while placing her hands on her hips in a threatening manner. "I'm not little and yes it would be," she replied hotly and then noticed that her ice cream was now lying splattered across the sidewalk. "And you made me drop my ice cream!"

Tadin grinned at her, _she looks cute when she's mad,_ he thought. "Of course you're not," he said and then added. "I'm sorry about the ice cream. How about I buy you another one to replace that one?"

Rylea smirked and crossed her arms over her chest, she had heard his little thought about her and didn't like it one bit or at least was trying to act like she didn't. Something about this guy didn't seem right to her and she kept seeing this almost other worldly look about him. Rylea blinked and grabbed the flame necklace Leinto had given her, for a second there it had felt warm against her skin. Holding the necklace, she looked back at Tadin. _Is my necklace reacting to him? Is it warning me?_

Keish smiled brightly at the two, knowing that Tadin had a thing for Rylea. "Hey, Tadin," she said, joining into the conversation. "We were just about to go back to Lea's house. Would you like to come hang with us for a while?"

"Keish!" Kami scolded the ash-blue haired girl with a scowl on her pretty face.

"Nani?" the ash-blue haired warrior of Hardrock asked back innocently with a sheepish grin at her.

Rylea laughed at her two friend's good natured fighting and smiled up at Tadin. "Well, do you?" she asked him.

"Do I what?" Tadin asked back with a sly grin at her.

Rylea smirked at him, annoyed that he was going to play it dumb. "Do you want to come hang with us at my house for a while?" she asked him, stating each word slowly and carefully for him like he was mentally challenged and needed things said plain to him.

Tadin chuckled at her, "I don't know. Will your Dad mind?"

"Maybe, but do we really care?" she said and turned around to look at her friends for a response. Both girls responded with a shake of their head to signify that they didn't. "Ok then, are you or aren't you?" Rylea asked as she turned back to look up at Tadin with a challenging expression.

Tadin smirked, enjoying her antics and sarcasm. "Alright, I will. Not like I have anything else better to do," he replied finally with a smile at the three girls. "Shall we then?"

"Yeah, come on, Tadin buddy. To Lea's house we go," Keish said as she turned on her heels and began to walk in front of the others with Kami next to her. Rylea shook her head at Keish, following after them as Tadin walked next to her.  
-

Ryo sat in his front room with Rowen and even the charge, Leinto was present. Whiteblaze dozed at his master's feet, half listening to the conversation that the three men were having. They had been talking for the last hour about something concerning his mistress Rylea, but the white tiger wasn't too sure about all the details concerning it ---all he knew was that whatever they were talking about must have been very important.

Ryo sat back against his couch, digesting what all he had been told by his brother-in-law about his daughter. He agreed that it was strange that her blood would look like that, but thought that maybe something had happened to it while it was in the lab to give it that effect. When Rowen had assured him that nothing had happened to it and that it hadn't been tampered with in anyway, he then turned to the charge, Leinto for his two cents on it.

Leinto had been very quiet about the whole situation, only saying a few things on it and then going on to tell them that a new demon, a female, had been found. This led Ryo to believe that he knew more than what he was saying. Leinto wouldn't say much on what Rowen had brought to his attention and didn't seem to be bothered too much by it, only someone who knew what was going on would act like that.

The sounds of voices and chatting rang through the open windows, snapping Ryo, Rowen and Leinto from their thoughts as the people they belonged to came up the steps to the porch. The front door opened and Rylea appeared a few seconds later from around the wall that separated the living room from the front door hallway. "Hey Dad, I've got company so blaze needs to go outside or something," she said to him, her eyes glancing around at the people in room, smiling when she noticed her uncle. "Hey, Uncle Rowen."

"Hey Lea, what are you up to?" Rowen responded to his niece with a smile.

"Nothing new," she replied with a grin at him, ignoring Leinto on purpose. The aging old man didn't seem to have a problem with her not greeting him either as he remained quiet in his seat.

"What do you mean 'you have company and blaze needs to go'? It's not like Keish and Kami haven't seen him before," Ryo stated to his daughter from his spot on the couch with Whiteblaze at his feet. Whiteblaze lifted his head and looked around the room at the people in it when he heard his name said.

"Because," Rylea drawled out, clasping her hands in front of her and swaying to either side. "I have a friend over and he doesn't know that I have a tiger as a pet."

"He?" Ryo repeated with a raised eyebrow to her. "Your friend is a male?"

Rowen chuckled as he folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against the chair he sat in, "Uh oh, it's already starting, Ryo."

"The hell it is," Ryo replied with a smirk over at Rowen. "I don't know what you let Rona do, but I'll be damned if I'm letting my daughter start that dating crap now. I probably won't even let her date when she turns eighteen."

Rowen laughed at Ryo's proclaim, finding him funny, "Yeah, Yeah, we'll see about that in a few years."

"Um, hello, I am still in the room ya know?" Rylea said, waving her arm to be noticed by the two men who were talking as if she wasn't there.

"Hai, I know you are," Ryo replied back mockingly as he flicked his fierce gaze back over onto her. "Who's this 'guy', Lea?"

"His name is, Tadin, he's not my boyfriend, he just moved here and he'll only be staying for a little while," she replied back with a glare at him, his questioning was starting to annoy her.

"Ok, well, he stays out of your room," Ryo retorted, watching her leading his tiger up the stairs to his son's room and then come back down, heading for the front door. "Did you hear me, Lea? He stays out of your room!"

Rylea waved him off as she went back outside to get Tadin and the girls. Rowen laughed at Ryo's antics, shaking his blue head at him. "Ryo, Ryo, Ryo," he said as he shook his head. "Give her a break. I think if he made a move on her she'd be able to handle herself alright."

"Yeah, but I know what boys his age are thinking and he is _not_ going to be doing that with _my _daughter," Ryo retorted angrily.

"Well," Leinto said as he stood from where he sat. "It has been nice talking with you all and I'm glad that you shared your findings with us, Rowen, but I must be going now."

"Why? We still need to finish our conversation," Rowen spoke up, confused with his sudden need to leave.

"I understand and we can finish it later, but I would rather not finish this conversation with Rylea's presence here," he replied and then turned to Ryo. "We will finish this later. Please do not say anything to Rylea about what we have discussed here today."

Ryo nodded, not understanding why he couldn't tell his daughter about what they had found out about her, but nodded anyway. Leinto took his nod for an answer and with a nod to each of them disappeared from the room before Keish, Kami, Rylea and Tadin had entered.

All four young teens came into the house now. Ignoring the two adults sitting in the front room, they headed straight for Rylea's room. Ryo glared up at the four young people and shouted for them to stop, "Hold it right there."

Rylea growled and turned around with an annoyed glare to stare at her father in exasperation. "What do you want!" she shouted back at him.

Ryo smirked at his daughter, pointing his finger at her threateningly. "Don't get snappy with me young lady or I'll send your company home and you and I can have a little chat about giving your elders respect," he warned her and then added before she could say anything. "Make one sarcastic remark about the 'elders' part of what I just said and I _will_ send them out."

Keish smiled and tried to playoff the tension in the room. "Come on now Uncle Ryo. You're getting all upset about nothing," she told him.

"We'll all be up here so it's not like anything is going to happen," Kami spoke up, trying to help persuade her uncle.

"Dad, you're starting to really bug me," Rylea added from behind gritted teeth with crossed arms.

Ryo smirked indignantly, not being persuaded in the least by their words. He didn't even know who this boy was they were all going to be in the same room with. "Keish, Kami, stay out of this please," he said to them and both girls went quiet. "Rylea, I'd like to at least meet your "friend" before he makes himself comfortable in my house."

"Fine, you want to meet my friend then fine," Rylea grumbled out in annoyance to her father, taking Tadin by the hand and dragging him back down the stairs and over to where her father sat. "Dad, Tadin. Tadin this is my Dad the annoying, overly protective, old man," she introduced, gesturing to each person in turn.

Ryo gave his daughter a glare that said just what he thought about her little comment about him. Rylea closed her mouth at that moment, turning her head away from him to keep from saying anything else. Ryo turned his angry gaze from his disrespectful daughter to the young man standing in front of him. "Whatever she says about me isn't all true," he said and then held his hand out for Tadin to shake with a polite smile. "I'm Ryo, Miss Smart Ass over there's, father."

"Um," Tadin replied with a polite smile back at him as he shook his hand. "Shouldn't I call you Mr. Sanada, though?"

Rylea snickered, covering her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing out loud. Ryo flicked his tiger blue eyes over onto her in a pointed glare before turning them back to Tadin. Rowen smiled from where he sat, deciding it would be better to not say anything at that time. "At least someone was brought up with manners," Ryo said, directing his comment over to his daughter who glanced over her shoulder at him with a smirk. "No, Tadin you said? You can call me Ryo, Mr. Sanada makes me sound old."

"You kinda are," Rylea muttered under her breath. Rowen chuckled at her, hearing what it was she had said and shook his head at her with a smile. Rylea only grinned back at her uncle innocently.

Tadin smiled at Ryo as he retracted his hand from his, sensing the same aura around him as he had around Rylea, "Ok, I'll try and remember to call you Ryo instead of Mr. Sanada."

"Thanks," Ryo replied and folded his arms behind his head. "I'll let you youngsters go on ahead and have fun since _someone _finds old men to be boring and very annoying."

Tadin chuckled at Ryo's comment, knowing that he was directing it at Rylea. The dark haired girl turned around with a flabbergasted look as she blinked at her father in confusion. "I don't have the _slightest_ idea as to who you are talking about," she replied with an arrogant smirk to him.

"I'm sure," Ryo retorted with an all knowing grin at her.

"Come on you two," Keish said down to them from where Kami and her stood on the steps waiting for them.

"Yes, please hurry before Keish becomes too impatient and starts throwing a fit," Kami added with a smile to her ash-blue haired friend who in turn glared at the petite brunette.

Rylea smiled up at them and gestured with her head for Tadin to follow her as she started on her way up the stairs to her room. "Come on Tadin. Let's leave the _old men _to their conversation," she said with a sneer over in her father's direction.

Ryo opened his mouth to reply to her comment as the front door opened and closed again and footsteps, along with male's voices, could be heard coming into the front room. Ryu and Hojo came strolling into the front room, smiling at the company they found.

"Well," Ryu started and gestured up to his sister who was walking up the stairs to her room. "I thought I heard someone's big mouth shouting things."

Hojo laughed and grinned up at the glare Rylea was now giving him and Ryu, "Yeah, you can't miss that signature big mouth of hers." Hojo Date was tall like his father and had his father's trademark hair, but his hair was a little longer and not as puffy as his Dad's was. Not to mention that it also swooped over to cover hisleft eye instead of his right like his father's.His lavender-gray eyes twinkled as he smiled up at the glaring girl.

Keish and Kami sighed and groaned as they watched their friend turn around slowly, and almost cockily, as she stomp back down the stairs towards the two older boys. "Lea, let them go girl!" Keish told her, trying to get her to just come on up to her room.

"They're not worth it, Lea," Kami added, hoping she could convince her to let them go.

"Iie, you guys go on up to my room and I'll be there in a minute," Rylea told them as she walked back down the stairs, heading towards the two boys standing in her front room. "I've got two losers to teach a lesson to."

Kami sighed and looked up at Keish for the signal on what to do next. Keish shook her head, but said nothing else to the shorter girl as she continued on her way. "Come on you guys," she said finally and motioned for them to follow her up to Rylea's room, Tadin following after them reluctantly and closing her door after him.

Ryo chuckled in nothing less than amusement as he watched the events unfold, smirking over at his blue haired brother-in-law, "You think we'll get a show today?"

"With the way Lea's giving them those glares," Rowen replied thoughtfully and glanced over at the dark haired man. "I think we will."

"Oh no," Ryu gasped dramatically, clasping his hands in front of his face like he was praying. "I think we're in for it this time, Hojo. It looks like the shortie is going to hurt us."

Hojo laughed along with Ryu as Rylea stopped in front of the much taller boys and crossed her arms, glaring at the two as if she could kill them if she stared long enough. Hojo smiled at her, trying to lighten the mood. "Come on, Lea, we were just teasing you," he said and tried to pull the shorter girl into a hug, but Rylea just moved away from him irritably.

"Aw, now what's the matter, Lea. You know you want a hug from, Hojo," Ryu teased his much younger sister and the two older men in the front room laughed along with him.

"Shut up, Rye! I do not!" she yelled back at him, shoving her brother roughly away from her as a light blush crypt to her cheeks, but no one saw it.

"Whoa," Ryu replied, holding his hands up as if to ward off her yelling. "I think I hit a soft spot with her." Smiling he then added in a whisper to Hojo, "I think she likes you, Hojo."

Hojo smiled at the brown haired male next to him as Ryu winked at him with a nudge, looking then back over at the dark haired girl who seemed to be fuming and turning an odd shade of red. "Nah," he pronounced finally with a shake of his blond head. "I don't think so."

"Yes she does," Ryu continued on, poking his sister teasingly in the stomach. "You like, Hojo don't you, Lea. Hai, you do."

Rylea glared at him more, wishing that she could just set him on fire or something to get him to shut up. Her glare only intensified as the sounds of her father and uncle laughing behind her became evident to her; something deep within her began to pace restlessly, wanting to be set free.

Hojo's smile faded from his face and took on a look of concern and worry as he watched the younger girl's attitude become darker and darker instead of her laughing like she usually would have. A burning fire seemed to shine in her eyes, as the necklace she was wearing began to glow red, and before Hojo knew what was happening, a fire had sprung up in front of him and Ryu. Hojo stumbled back from the fire, along with Ryu, barely missing becoming a human fire ball.

Ryo and Rowen sprang up from their seats in a hurried and startled fashion, Rowen rushing to grab something to smother the flames out with. Ryo rushed to his daughter's side, grabbing her arm and jerking her roughly back away from the flames as Rowen tossed a blanket over it and began to stomp it out.

"Rylea!" he shouted at her, snapping her out of the trance she had been in. "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

Rylea blinked several times, examining the scene in front of her before everything began to set in. "I-" she started and shook her head blankly. "I don't know."

"I'll tell you what you were doing!" Ryu shouted to his sister, still in shock about almost being set on fire. "You were trying to set me on fire!"

Hojo blinked as he came out of his stupor, still confused as to how the fire had started and why his uncle and friend were blaming Rylea for it, as if she had done it. Rylea looked around at the people who were now staring at her for an explanation, their glares asking her why she had done it. "I-" she stuttered out and turned her gaze up at her father, hoping to get relief from him. "I didn't mean to do it. Honest! It just happened, I didn't mean for it to."

"What's going on?" came the concerned question from the people upstairs as they came out of Rylea's room and down to investigate.

Keish and Kami looked around at the other people in the room, noticing the blanket on the floor and smoke still trailing out from under it, their eyes immediately setting on Rylea. Tadin blinked, not understanding completely what was going on.

Ryo sighed in provocation, bringing his gaze up from his daughter to look at Tadin. "Um, I think it would be best if you left now, Tadin," he said to him quietly.

Tadin nodded silently, understanding that something had gone on that he just wasn't catching on to. "Alright, I'll talk to you all later," he said and waved to Keish and Kami as he walked out of the house, leaving them all to their situation.

"Lea, what did you do? Try and set Ryu and Hojo on fire or something?" Kami asked, her sea-green eyes scanning over the two boys and the smoking blanket in front of them.

"I-I don't know," she responded and drifted her vivid blue gaze up to the two boys standing in front of her. "I'm sorry you guys, really. I didn't mean for that to happen."

"Hey, it's ok," Hojo consoled, wrapping his arms around the upset girl. "I know you didn't mean to... At least not almost set me on fire anyway."

Rylea excepted his hug, chuckling at Hojo's comment. Ryu glared over at the smile Hojo gave him, not finding the blond funny in the least bit, he knew that his sister had purposely tried to set him on fire consciously or unconsciously because he was teasing her.

Keish looked down at Kami who looked back up at her, neither one knowing what to say about it. Ryo sighed and looked over at Rowen who looked back at him with the same concerned and almost worried expression; both men were wondering the same question as they looked back at the young girl in Hojo's arms: What if what Leinto had told them about the new demon, and her being female, was really being subtly directed at Rylea? What if she was the new demon? Was she going to become a threat to them with her new power and all?  
-

**A/N:** Wow, ok this was a long chap. Sorry if it was too long for some of you but I had to get all of this in here so that I could start out chap 11 the way I wanted to. This is gonna be short so let me get my special thanks out here. (clears throat) Gracias to Sifirela, MorganRay and Rogue for sending me a review in or looking it over for me. Fear not, Chapter 11 is on its way.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The hot, July sun beat down upon the Earth and the trees surrounding the small area that the girls used as their training spot, gave little or no relief to the scorching heat coming off the bright ball that sat high in the clear blue sky. A cool breeze was about the only relief they had to the unbearable heat and that wasn't doing much of anything for any of them. The sounds of weapons clashing and clanging together rang throughout the area as their users fought adamantly against each other in a battle of strength and strategy. The aging charge, Leinto, stood off to the side of the fighting arena, watching the young girls as they fought against each other as part of their training. His aging and weathered face showed no emotion as his gray eyes surveyed each of the girls' moves and fighting techniques.

He had to hand it to the Ronins, they had taught their daughters very well. The Ronins' fighting styles shown greatly in the ways that the girls fought; everything from their personalities to even some of their favorite moves and tricks. He smiled softly as he watched the strongest of the five, Keish, obviously going easy on her much smaller opponent Kami. The two were more so playing than they were fighting as they were supposed to be.

_Figures. Kami does not like to fight and since Keish is much stronger than her smaller friend is, she would rather go easier on her then fight her like she would with Rylea,_ thought the charge with a smile in their direction as he watched them go at it.

His eyes then glanced over at the other two fighters. Rona and Heather were paired together today, the blond bearer of Halo actually participating in the training without her usual complaining and whining. This surprised and elated Leinto to see the young girl fighting as he knew she could, without the added extras that usually accompanied anything she did that required physical exertion.

_Maybe Heather is starting to accept and go along with the fact that she must work and sweat to be able to get anything done. _Leinto smiled as he watched Rona, the royal-blue-haired bearer of Strata. Her smart thinking and ability to come up with strategic plans quickly was going to be very useful on the battlefield. What Rona didn't have in strength, like say Keish, she made up with her brain and ability to think quickly.

Leinto nodded his head in thought as he watched over the girls, studying and memorizing their unique fighting styles. He had most of them figured out and memorized, almost knowing every one of their moves and how they thought when in battle. _Rona's strategic planning, Keish's strength and Kami's ability to see past fighting, will all come in handy when they begin to fight the evil that I feel beginning to grow stronger with each passing day. Heather will be able to keep them busy if needed to, I hope. _

The charge frowned as he thought, flicking his gaze over onto the only girl who was not currently paired with some one. Rylea sat off to the side, lazily watching the other four girls as they trained, her katanas rested at her sides, waiting to be picked up and used in battle. The aging charge frowned, sensing that time was also running out for the hot tempered bearer of Wildfire.

He knew a secret about Rylea that she herself was probably not even aware of yet. A secret so terrible, that if it were to ever get out to any of the other girls, it might tear the group apart. Rylea was not like the other girls for she held something dark and evil within her. Something that very shortly could take over her completely, turning her from their side to the enemies and with that,also turning the tides in favor of the one thing that she had been sworn to protect the world from.

While this secret of hers she still held deep within her, so far being able to keep control over it, Leinto knew that not much longer would she be able to. Her birthday was drawing ever so closer, bringing with it the looming feeling of dread. The unnerving sensation that Rylea would soon be turning, feeding into that demon side of her; letting her cravings for power and blood turn her into a soulless monster and thus causing her to betray her family, hung thick in the air around Leinto. One question still bewildered the charge the more he thought about it: How had Rylea ended up with a demonic power, a demon side to her when she comes from a long line of ninjas and fighting for the side of good? How could a descendant of the great Ryo of Wildfire, a new bearer of the Wildfire armor, be evil?

The more Leinto pondered over this the more confused he became. Something was missing along the lines, something he was overlooking. There was no way for a child who came from the Sanada bloodline to carry such a demonic presence within her. There was just something about the whole thing that didn't quite set right with him. The way Luna had died and Rylea had been left for dead, but survived against all odds, the way no clues had been left behind andthe crime scene was just too clean for this to have been just your ordinary murder. Leinto suspected there was more to the story then what he was seeing, but had kept his findings to himself. He didn't want to alert the Ronins about her and then have it turn around and not be true. No, Leinto would wait and find out more about his suspicions before he would bring it to their attention.

Settling his pondering mind, Leinto cleared his throat as he stepped closer to the girls who were training. "Alright, girls. That is enough for today," he spoke to them as the four girls training stopped to look over at their aging charge. "You are all free to leave."

"Well, great. It's about time you gave us the word," Keish grumbled while recalling her subarmor and twirling the three-section staff in her hand. "Do you have any idea what its like training in this kind of heat?"

"It is a little too hot for this kind of stuff," Kami added, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her arm after she too had recalled her subarmor.

"Yeah, well a certain someone didn't have to worry about the heat," Heather huffed as she recalled her green and white subarmor. "She just laid around while the rest of did what we were supposed to do."

Rylea climbed back to her feet from her spot on the ground, shedding her red and white subarmor as she picked up the katanas from the ground, twirling them thenexpertly before pointing them at the blond. "How bout I do my training now," she challenged her. "You and me can go right now if you'd like."

Heather sneered at her challenge, crossing her arms over her chest and snapping her head away from Rylea with an arrogant smirk. "Like you're worth it," she replied with a wave of her hand. "I've already done my training for the day. You're the one who didn't do anything, so why should I have to train with you now?"

The dark haired girl growled, tightening her hold on the hilts of her katanas as she narrowed her vivid blue eyes into slits at the pretty blond's back. Rona, now back in her street clothes, stepped in-between the two feuding girls, pushing her cousin back away from Heather to keep a fight from breaking out. A flash of pictures raced across Rona's mind when she touched Rylea with such a strong force that she reeled back from it, grabbing her head in her hands in an attempt to block out the scenes and voices in her mind.

Caught up in the mini movie playing in her mind, Rona jerked back in surprise when a hand touched her shoulder. "Whoa," she heard the familiar voice of her cousin, but her voice sounded as if it were coming from the end of a tunnel and was being distorted and changed. The royal-blue-haired Lady Ronin of Strata cracked her eyes open, the light from the sun blinding her temporarily before she regained her sight and glanced around at the confused and concerned looks she was getting from the other girls around her.

"You ok?" Rylea asked her cousin as she laid her hand on her shoulder.

Rona once again found the mini movie involving her cousin play across her mind's eye, this time with more depth and reality to it. She could make out what the Rylea in her mind's eye was saying and doing, but couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Rylea narrowed her eyes at her cousin as she frowned, concerned by her actions. "Rons?" she said her name timidly, trying to gain her attention.

Rona jerked her head up suddenly at the mention of her name, almost as if she had been snapped from a daydream and brought back to reality. "Huh? Nani?" the usually well spoken girl stuttered out as she blinked rapidly to rid herself of the lingering pictures in her mind.

"You ok, Rona?" Kami's soft and concerned voice asked her.

Rona took a deep breath, trying to settle herself as she attempted to make sense out of what she had just seen or more like, what had just happened to her. Smiling to reassure them she said, "Yeah, I'm fine. I think the heat's starting to get to me. Why don't we go some place where it's nice and cool?"

"I say hai to that," Keish replied, draping her arms over the shoulders of Rylea and Rona as she smiled brightly.

"Yeah, I think getting out of the sun might be best. I'm going to start turning red if I stay out here any longer," Heather agreed, examining over her skin to make sure that no red spots had started to form. Heaven forbid that she were to get sunburn.

"You guys go ahead," Rylea said as she retracted Keish's arm from around her shoulder and began to walk ahead of them to a place of her own choosing. "I got something I need to do."

"But Lea-" Keish started and was shushed by Rona who put her hand up to stop her.

"Let her go," Rona told her, sensing that her cousin needed to be left alone to do whatever she had to do. "She'll meet up with us later if she wants to."

Keish frowned, but didn't press the issue, instead she watched as the dark haired ninja disappeared into the thicket of trees and bushes; leaving them to go off on her own. The ash-blue warrior of strength couldn't understand why her best friend had all of a sudden begun to hang by herself more and more, but figured that Rylea would talk to them sooner or later if she wanted to about it. Brushing the issue from her mind, she smiled once again, "So we going?"

"I guess so," Kami answered with a shrug of her shoulders as Keish and her began to walk ahead of the others to their destination.

Heather started to walk behind the two before realizing that Rona wasn't walking next to her and turned around, questionably looking at the girl who still stood where she was, seemingly staring off into space as if deep in thought. "Rona?" she said, gaining her attention. "You coming?"

"Yeah," Rona replied and reluctantly started taking steps towards the blond, "I'm coming."

Heather eyed her peculiarly, but said nothing to her as the two ran to catch up with the other two members of their group who were already ahead of them, leaving Leinto alone in the training area they used. The old charge frowned, wrinkles forming on his forehead as he mused over what he had witnessed.

_She saw something, maybe a prediction of what's to come? I'll have to find out later from her about what it was she had seen in her mind that could have startled her so. I hope it's not a foreboding message of something that's going to happen, _Leinto thought as he slowly turned from the fleeing forms of the four girls, disappearing into the air and out of sight.  
-

Loud clapping and cheering could be heard halfway down the block as Tadin approached the large Cathedral style building ahead of him. Iron gates surrounded the huge Cathedral with its twisted gargoyles and towers that seemed to spiral up into the black skies that hung low over it. Tadin smirked as he passed one of the stone lions that stood guard at the entrance to the Cathedral, its mouth open wide in a ferocious growl. _Sirous must be giving another one of his speeches,_ the dingy blond thought to himself as he neared the entrance to the building.

Pushing one of the large wooden doors open, the dingy blond walked into the building, ignoring the two demon guards inside the doors as he slipped into the back so as to not be seen. A hundred or so demons of all races, sizes, shapes and colors stood before him, gathered inside and all looking intently at the speaker before them. Anyone who would have seen it would have thought it was a Sunday sermon with the way the speaker and crowd were carrying on.

He smiled lightly as he leaned against the stone pillar next to him, listening to the speaker at the front of the room go on and on about something. After listening to the useless rambling of the lecturer, it became evident to Tadin who the person was. _Sirous sure knows how to work a crowd. Poor saps, they'd do anything he told them to __or believe it for that matter._

A round of clapping and cheering signified that Sirous was done giving his speech now. Some of the demons started to disperse while others stood in groups and talked amongst themselves about what had just been said. Tadin uncrossed his arms, pushing himself away from the pillar he leaned against as he strode towards Sirous before the purebred could get away. A few of the demons were talking to the tall purebred as Tadin walked up to him.

Sirous stopped talking when he noticed Tadin, excusing himself, he walked over to him. "Tadin, I had a feeling you'd show up," he said to him smoothly, his slate gray eyes sparkling with a glint of something as he smiled at him.

"I need to talk to you Sirous," Tadin said to him, taking the purebred by the arm and leading him away from the crowd.

Sirous glared down at the hand that was holding onto his arm as Tadin retracted it quickly. The purebred had a problem with anyway who was ranked lower than he was, touching him in anyway. Brushing it off he said, "What do you need, hybrid."

Tadin gave him a glowering look, but shrugged it off. Figuring it wasn't worth him going off on Sirous, he let it go. "I think the time to act is now," he told him, checking over his shoulder to make sure that no one was listening into their conversation.

Sirous fixed his posture, bringing himself up to stand at his full height as he looked down at the dingy blond before him. His gray eyes studied him carefully, "Is that what you honestly believe?"

Tadin nodded his head firmly, his eyes never leaving the purebred's. "Yes, I have this feeling that if I wait any longer then I might not be able to bring her over," Tadin explained for him.

"I see," Sirous replied as he stroked his chin in thought. "Don't do anything now. Making a move at this stage in the game might tip the scales in the favor of the enemy. She hasn't known you that long, has she?" At the nod he got from Tadin he continued, "Try to gain her trust a little more. I'll let you know when the time is right."

Tadin eyed the dark skinned man in front of him. There was something different about his attitude towards the whole thing, but he couldn't put his finger on just what it was. At first he couldn't wait for him to try and turn her and now he was telling him to wait. Tadin was starting to get the feeling that Sirous had an agenda all of his own involving the hybrid, Rylea.

"Yeah, well if you say so," he replied back hesitantly as he turned from him and started to walk back towards the exit to leave. He didn't like being this far into the demon dimension as it was.

Sirous watched the young hybrid walk away, leaving once again. His eyes were set into a glare at his back as a demon appeared behind him. "Master," the thing gurgled out in a voice that sounded as if he were choking on some kind of liquid.

"Soon," Sirous replied, now smiling as he kept his back to the demon. "Tadin is getting in way over his head. Soon, I will send you to do get what is mine."

The demon behind him nodded and retreated to the shadows once again, leaving Sirous to smile as he thought about his plans. His plans that had been put off the last eleven years, but no longer would be once he got his hands on the one thing he still needed. _Soon. Soon what I started almost eleven years ago will finally be finished. It's only a matter of time now,_ the purebred smirked at his musings while turning to go back to the crowd of demons to socialize amongst them.  
-

The four young girls sat at a booth in the food court of the Toyama mall. A pizza with half the slices to it gone sat in the middle of the table, signifying that they had had lunch already. Small talk was about all that the girls could bring themselves to do. Rona sat at the booth with the rest of them quietly as her mind reeled over and contemplated what all she had seen earlier. She didn't understand why she had seen a glimpse of, what must have been, the future when she had touched her cousin, but she had and what she had seen was not settling well with the royal-blue-haired lady Ronin.

_It couldn't have been real. It just couldn't._ Trying to convince herself that she had just hallucinated what she had seen wasn't working for the young genius. Somehow, deep down, she knew, just knew that what shehad seenwas real and was going to happen. Frown lines creased her forehead as she thought more over what she had seen, trying to recall every detail about it, hoping that she had come up with the wrong conclusion.

"Hey Rona?"

Rona looked up when the sound of Keish's voice interrupted her thoughts; jerking her back to the present. She blinked several times as if clearing her vision as three sets of eyes stared at her with concern. "Nani?" she asked back as if nothing were wrong.

"Ah," Keish stammered out and looked to the petite brunette next to her for help.

"Rona, are you ok?" Kami asked her blue-haired friend as her sea green eyes set into a frown at the girl.

"Hai," Rona answered quickly and the three girls all looked at each other with a smirk, knowing full well that it wasn't.

"Spill Rons," Heather said, pointing her cup at her before she took a drink from it. "You've been staring off into space in your own little world ever since we left from training today. So out with it already, what's wrong?"

Rona dropped her eyes to the table, not really sure how to word what she had seen to them. She knew that she had to tell them, they deserved to know. "I- I saw something when Lea touched me," she told them cautiously, still trying to figure out how she wanted to explain it to them.

"You saw something?" Keish repeated with a raised eyebrow at the blue-haired girl.

"Hai," she said back to confirm her right. "Don't ask me how, but when Lea touched me I saw something. It might have been a glimpse of the future, I don't know, all I know is that I saw something and it doesn't look good."

"Can you tell us what it was you saw?" Kami asked her, now intrigued by what the young Strata had said.

"I can try," she replied as she straightened and got ready to recall what all she had seen. "What I saw really doesn't make sense. I saw Lea, but the person looked different in a way. She seemed evil almost and had this feeling of death surrounding her. To make this worse, she was fighting us, all of us. Not just us three, but she was fighting our fathers too."

Rona stopped as a frown set over her face and the other girls looked intently at her, waiting for her to continue withwhat she was saying. "She was fighting us and didn't seem to feel remorse at all for it. By what I saw, she was beating us as well and seemingly enjoying the fact that she was."

Silence fell over the table as the girls thought over and imagined what all Rona had told them. None could say anything, they were all too awestruck and taken back by it. Somehow they couldn't imagine their best friend and teammate turning on them like that. They just couldn't picture Rylea fighting against them and enjoying it, it wasn't possible to them. They had grown up with her, laughed with her, shared tears and fears with this girl in Rona's story and could never, ever picture her turning against them for any reason. It just wasn't Rylea. There had to be some kind of explanation for Rona's premonition. Something that they were over looking or reading wrong.

"Maybe we should tell Leinto about this," Kami suggested quietly, looking around at the faces of her friends for a reply.

Rona nodded her head in response, agreeing with Kami thatit might be the best thing to do. If anybody would be able to decipher and understand what the real meaning behind what she had foreseen was, it was Leinto. "Lets go," she said and got up from the booth they occupied, heading for where she knew Leinto would be. The others quickly got up and followed after her, trying to catch up with her before she got too far ahead of them.  
-

The phone rang in Ryo Sanada's office as he was in the middle of conversing with Sage about business. He glanced down at the phone, considering whether he should pick it up or not. Deciding it might have been important, he answered the phone with a, "Yeah?"

"Your son is on line one," came Saksai's voice from the other end.

"Alright, thanks," he replied with a sigh and pressed the line one button on the phone, switching it over to the line his son was waiting on. "What, Rye?"

"Well that's a nice hello," came the reply from Ryu on the other end.

"Sorry, I'm just a little busy at the moment," Ryo apologized to his son.

"Oh, well you're going to be a little busier because Lea didn't come home from training today," Ryu informed him, seemingly sounding annoyed that he had to waste his time tracking his sister down.

Ryo's mind started to run wild with possible things that could have happened to her, none of them being good ones. "What do you mean she didn't come home!" he shouted back into the phone at his son on the other line.

Sage looked over at Ryo after he had shouted into the phone. He knew of 'who' they were talking about, but not of 'what' they were discussing. Judging by how Ryo was now yelling into the phone, though, he figured Rylea had done something, yet again, to anger him. The man's hot tempered daughter getting into trouble was not a new thing to any of them by now.

"I mean, Lea didn't show back up at the house when she was supposed to," Ryu calmly clarified for his father.

"Well did you call the girls? Maybe practice ran over late today," he asked back, fear now creeping into his voice.

"Hai, they said that she left by herself to go do something and they haven't seen her since."

Ryo's heart plummeted to his stomach and he almost dropped the phone, catching himself before it slipped from his hands and placed it back against his ear. "Ok, don't go anywhere in case she comes home and I'll figure something out," he instructed his son.

"Will do, Ja Ne," Ryu replied and hung up before Ryo could say anything else to him.

Ryo replaced the phone shakily back onto its cradle. His mind was racing a mile a minute as to where his daughter could be or even what could have happened to her. Sage looked over at Ryo from where he lounged in the chair in front of Ryo's desk, now worried about what was going on. "What was that all about?" he asked him with a confused frown.

"Lea-" Ryo said simply and took another deep breath to calm himself. "Lea didn't come home from practice and none of the girls have seen her since she left by herself."

Sage frowned deeply at what the dark haired man had informed him of and replied, "Well, what are we going to do? Where do you think she could be?"

Ryo racked a shaky hand through his wild black hair as he leaned against the front of his desk, "I don't know Sage. I just don't know."

"Well we can't just stay here. We need to go and look for her," Sage told him as he started for the door to Ryo's office with Ryo close at his heels.

The two men passed a surprised Saksai, on their way out,who asked where it was they were going. "If my daughter shows up here, tell her to wait in my office and call me immediately," Ryo informed her as he and Sage rushed past her, not even waiting for the old woman to reply as they exited the building as quickly as they could without running leaving a gaping and confused Saksai behind.  
-

Rylea walked along the sidewalk of the Toyama city, heading for her Dad's place of work. Hours had passed since she had left the girls to go off on her to do some thinking about what all had been happing to her lately. She would have just gone home, but figured since she was in the area, she could just get a ride with her father instead.

The short, dark haired girl looked up at the towering building in front of her as she approached it, having to shield her eyes from the still glaring sun. She walked into the building, taking the elevator once inside, to the fifth floor where she got off and walked down the carpeted hallway pushing open the double glass doors that led into the lobby when she came to them. Rylea didn't have to wait in the lobby though like everyone else, she simply walked over to the receptionist where she spotted Saksai behind the desk, busy doing something related to her work.

She strolled over to her, smiling as she leaned over the desk to see what the old woman was doing. "Hey Saki," Rylea greeted the woman cheerfully. Saki was her nickname for the aging woman, something she had called her when she was little, since she couldn't pronounce her name, and it just kind of stuck.

Saksai looked up to see who had said her name, noticing Rylea and smiled ruefully at the young girl. "I had a feeling you'd show up here Lea," she replied to her. "Your father is very upset with you though, sweetie. He told me to tell you to wait in his office."

Rylea frowned, seemingly confused by the fact that her father was upset with her. She didn't think she had done anything wrong lately, "What did I do now, Saki?"

Saksai shrugged her shoulders lightly, "I don't know sweetheart. All I know is what he told me and that wasn't much as he and your Uncle Sage went rushing out of here about an hour ago."

"I'm always in trouble for something," Rylea replied with a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes. "I guess I'd better go wait in his office. Wouldn't want to upset him any more then he already is."

Saksai smiled and patted her arm softly in condolence, "That's right baby, now you run along and go wait in his office."

Rylea smiled at the old woman as she went off in the direction of her father's office, disappearing inside it and closing the door behind her. Saksai thought for a moment once she was gone, thinking that she had forgotten something. "Now what else did Sanada-san want me to do?" she pondered out loud. Remembering, Saksai picked up the phone and dialed Ryo's cell number.  
-

Not long after Saksai had dialed the number, and told Ryo that his daughter was there and waiting for him, then he and Sage came trampling back in ---the dark haired man looking a little more than annoyed and mad. "Is she still in there?" Ryo asked Saksai, pointing to the door to his office while heading in the direction of it. His foot falls were heavy and just about screamed anger.

"Hai, but-" Saksai answered as she stood from the swivel chair, stopping when she knew he wasn't paying her any heed.

Sage sighed and leaned against the edge of the counter of the desk Saksai sat at. "I give it two minutes and there will be a whole hell of a lot of yelling coming from that office," he told her with a nod in the direction of the office Ryo had gone to.

"Yes, but yelling at the poor girl isn't going to do any good. He's just going to make matters worse," Saksai reasoned with the blond in front of her.

Sage nodded lightly at her words. Saksai did have a point, but trying to explain that to Ryo when he was this mad was like speaking Japanese to a deaf man, it did no good. Sighing, Sage walked away from Saksai and headed for the cafeteria to get something to eat while Ryo went off on a rampage on his daughter.

Ryo was fuming when he reached his office. He couldn't even remember the last time he had been this mad at her before. His heart beat loudly in his ears and his breaths came out in short, forced huffs through his nose. Anger, it seemed, ran through his veins. All of the anxiety and worry he had had only moments ago, now had turned into a rage that burned through him. The man had tunnel vision now, the only thing in his sights was the door to his office that he knew his daughter sat behind.

Throwing the door to his office open, it hit the wall, before he then stepped into the room and slammed the door shut behind him causing the door to shake on its hinges and bang loudly against the doorframe. Fear at not knowing where his daughter was, had now been transmuted into a blinding rage that clouded his thoughts and only grew more at the sight of her sitting in the leather high-back chair in front of his desk.

Rylea, startled by his entrance, jumped and looked up at the man who had now come into the room; confused by his actions and then seeing the mad gleam in his eyes, knew she was in for the lecture of her life.

"Rylea Marie Sanada, _what_ in the name of the ancient do you have to say for yourself?" he said to her from behind gritted teeth, trying his hardest not to yell at her, yet at least anyway. His hands balled into fists at his sides to subdue the rage that was building within him.

Rylea looked away from his stern glare, nervously now twiddling her thumbs. He had used her full name and he only used her full name when she was in serious trouble. "Ah, konnichiwa Otousan?" she replied cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood the best she could.

"_Don't_ you 'konnichiwa Otousan' me," he shot back at her, placing his hands on his hips now and glaring at her. His breathing was short and ragged now as hetook one hand from his hip and pointed it angrily at her while saying with words that shouted anger,"Do you have _any _idea what kind of _hell_ you just put me through!"

"Ah, if I say no are you going to yell at me?" she asked him back timidly. Rylea could take on people twice her size, but her father and his temper was a whole 'nother story.

"_What _in the _hell_ were you _thinking_!" Ryo shouted at his daughter at the top of his lungs, his temper was now boiling over. His vivid blues were like piercing daggers that nailed her to the seat she sat in and he didn't care who heard him yelling at that point.

Rylea winced at his voice, "I'm sorry! For whatever it was I did anyway."

Ryo blinked in outraged shock at her audacity to try and apologize for what she had done and then act as if she didn't know what she had done wrong. "You're sorry?" he repeated and then chuckled cynically, crouching down in front of his daughter who sat in the chair in front of his desk. "You're _sorry_?"

Rylea stared at him, a little afraid by the way he was acting. It wasn't like him to be like this. "Hai," she replied cautiously, almost afraid that her reply might send him into a frenzy.

"Do you have _any_ idea how scared and worried you had me!" Ryo shouted at her, taking his daughter firmly by the shoulders and giving her a rough shake. His anger had a tight grasp on him now and all rational thinking had been thrown completely out the window.

"Ow, Dad you're hurting me!" Rylea cried out, now frightened by the one person she trusted more then anyone else. Never in her whole life had her father ever put his hands on her.

"You had your brother, me _and_ your Uncle Sage all out looking for you!" he yelled at her again as he gave her another rough shake. "And all you can say is _you're sorry,_ but you don't _know_ what you did _wrong_?"

Tightening his grip on her upper arms, he shook her again while shouting at her,"I don't know what's been going on with you lately Rylea, but you'd better get your head out of your ass and get your act together and fast! Where were you anyway? Out meeting up with your dealers to get your next fix? Huh, _where_ were you?"

"Dad you're hurting me!" Rylea shouted at him again as tears sprang to her eyes. "I'm sorry, ok! I really didn't think that whatever I did would be such a big deal and I don't know what you're talking about! I don't have any dealers, I _don't_ do drugs!"

"Well _that's_ just the problem Lea, _you don't think_!" raged Ryo, still keeping his grip on Rylea as his temper flared even more, if possible, at her words. "You had me worried _to death_ about you! Did the _thought_ even _cross your mind_ that you might have people who care about you _worried_ when they didn't know where you were!"

He stared at her a moment, eyes unwavering on hers, trying to see if he could detect that she was lying about the drug part. "Why should I believe you, Rylea? You've been acting weird lately; mood swings, hanging by yourself more, distancing yourself from everyone, and then end up in the hospital for no known reason," Ryo replied, eyes still fixed on hers to see how she would react to what he was saying, hands still tightly gripped onto her upper arms. "You're acting like someone who _is_ on drugs, Rylea. Do you know what your uncle said the cause for your trip to the hosiptal was? A drug overdose, Rylea, a fucking _drug_ overdose! Now, you tell me _again_ how you're _not _doing drugs."

"Why the hell should I! You've already made it up in your mind that _I am_, what good would it do! My word isn't going to mean shit to you and you know it!" Rylea shouted back brazingly in her father's face, at this point not even caring what kind of trouble she'd end up in for it.

"Don't you _dare_ shout at me young lady!" he replied, voice louder than hers as he gave her another rough shake. "You have _no_ idea how much trouble you are in now."

"Ow, you're hurting me! Let me go damnit!" she yelled as tears welled in her eyes, butshe refused to letthem fall in front of him; squirming nowin his hold in hopes of maybe getting him to release her.

Ryo blinked nowas he realized what he had been doing and let go of herarms quickly, now aware that his hands were there. He stared at them as if they were foreign objects, not believing that he could have actually have put his hands on his daughter and done her harm. Ryo had done it in his moment of rage and hadn't even known it. Regret now replaced his anger and his eyes softened, replacing the hard, angered glare that had been there before.

"Lea," he started quietly as he looked at her again, his eyes showing remorse for what he had done. "I'm sorry, baby I didn't mean to hurt you."

He tried to hug her, but Rylea just flinched away from his touch and stood up, side stepping her father to move as far away from him as she could.

"Yeah, I'm sure you didn't," she threw back at him bitterly. "You'd never lay a hand on me right? Could never even think about hurting me? Well, guess what, you did! I hate you!"

With tears streaming from her tiger blue eyes, Rylea threw open the door to his office and without a second glance back at her father, ran from the room and away from him, ignoring his shouts for her to stop.

Rylea just ran, she ran right past Saksai who asked her what was wrong and all the way towards the elevators, just wanting to get as far away from her father as she possibly could. Sage walked around the corner from the elevators, on his way back from the cafeteria on the third floor and was surprised to find his niece running towards him looking upset and like she were crying.

Frowning in concern, he clothes lined her, wrapping his arms around the struggling girl as she kicked and screamed at him. "Lea! What's wrong sweetie? Stop it!" he shouted at her adamant squirming and fighting.

When the sounds of foot steps down the hall became evident to him, Sage looked back down the hallway in the direction that she had come from and was surprised when he found Ryo running down it towards him. "What's going on?" he asked the girl in his arms again.

"Just let me go!" Rylea screamed at her uncle, without really thinking and acting more on instinct, she planted her elbow firmly in his gut. With the wind knocked out of him now, Sage let go of her to double over in pain.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, Rylea was off again. She could hear her father behind her, yelling and pleading for her stop, but she wouldn't, she couldn't force herself to stop and allow him to catch up to her. She didn't want to be anywhere around him. Deciding that if she waited for the elevator he'd get her, she instead slammed the emergency stairs doorway open and bolted down the long, winding staircase. Rylea was about halfway down the first flight when she heard that same door fly open and bang against the wall, then a second pair of feet were on the stairs along with hers, pounding just above her.

Rylea could barely see where she was going; her tears were blinding her vision now hot, angry tears flew from her eyes as she ran. She tripped on one of the steps and almost went tumbling head over heel, but caught a hold of the railing before she could. From there, she regained her balance and continued on her way down the stairs, but could hear her father's feet pounding louder and closer behind her. Rylea ignored them though, focusing on getting to the exit that was only one flight away from her. She could see the bright, red neon sign now just a little farther and she was there and free from the monster she called father.

Ryo saw the exit sign as well and how close she was to it. He panicked, not wanting her to get to it and out. Deciding that it was the only thing he could do to keep her from getting to it, Ryo jumped over the railing and the remaining seven steps landing right on top of her. Quickly, before she could get away, he threw his arms around her from behind, snagging her around the waist and stopping her from going any further.

Rylea thrashed, kicked and squirmed as she tried to get out of his tight grasp, trying to get away from _him_. Ryo wouldn't let go of her though, he just held onto her as tightly as he could. "Rylea! Stop it!" he shouted at her, but she just ignored him and Ryo tried again to get through to her. "Baby please just stop."

"No!" she yelled back at him and planted the heel ofher foot in his shin with a swift kick. Ryo cursed loudly and let her go to grab his shin and hop on one foot.

Rylea bolted out the door and it slammed against the wall as she entered into the underground parking lot as fast she could. Ryo wasn't far behind her though, quickly running to catch up with her despite the fact that his shin was still throbbing from the kick she had given him. "Lea! Would you just stop!" he yelled to her, still trying to catch up with his daughter. "Please, Jouchan, just stop!"

Rylea just ignored her father's pleads for her to stop, just letting them go in one ear and out the other as she headed for the way out not noticing the car that was now coming around the corner and headed straight for her. Ryo thought for sure it was over as he watched in slow motion, the car come barreling down on his daughter. He could picture the next thing he would be doing was standing over her open casket as he asked himself how he could have let that happen to her. Instead of the car hitting her though, it squealed on its breaks and stopped just in front of her. Rylea banged on the hood of the car, shouting something in Japanese to the driver before taking off again.

Ryo thanked whatever gods were watching over him and ran around the still non moving car, but when he came to the other side of the automobile, he couldn't see his daughter anywhere. He turned around and searched the other side of the parking lot and again came up with nothing. "Lea! Come on, please don't do this!" he shouted helplessly as he looked around for any signs of her and found nothing.

A car's horn honked behind him and Ryo moved out of the way to let the car pass by. Panic seized the young man as he ran a hand through his hair and cursed loudly. Giving up on trying to find her, he turned and headed back into the building to try and think up a way to find her before something bad happened to her.  
-

**A/N:** Ok, well what can I say. Here's the chap and I hope you all like it. More action and heart pounding suspense awaits you all. Anyway, here's the special thanks as always. (clears throat) Gracias to BlackBull289, MorganRay, Two-BitGortez and of course, Sifirela. Thanks for reading and reviewing my story.


	13. Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

Rylea was breathing hard when she came out from behind the parked car she had been hiding behind ---her eyes searched the parking lot to make sure that her father was really gone before she bolted for the exit out of the underground parking lot. The glare of the sun made her wince as she entered out into the crowded sidewalk of Toyama from the dimly lit parking lot. She ran down the sidewalk, her feet pounding loudly on the cement in tune with her beating heart. Confusion, pain and betrayal were among the few things that registered in her mind, clouding her every thought as she just ran ---not really having a destination or place that she wanted to go. Rylea ignored the sideway glances and shouts she got from the people she bumped into or almost ran over ---she was too wrapped up in her thoughts to even care or pay them any attention.

The dark haired girl was startled from her thoughts when an arm wrapped around her waist, making her jerk forward from the sudden motion; stopping her from running any farther. Immediately her mind started racing with the possibility that the arm belonged to her father and in return she elbowed the person in the stomach and turned around with a raised fist, ready to punch the unidentified human behind her.

"Hey!"

Rylea blinked rapidly, clearing her vision as her mind registered who the voice belonged to before the image of the person's face became clear ---the person wasn't her father as she had first thought. The person doubled over clutching his stomach chuckled as if amused by her reaction, smiling as he stood up. "We really need stop meeting like this," Tadin told her; his face lit up with a cool and easy smile.

"Tadin," Rylea choked out as she buried her face in his chest, tears streaming down her face and falling onto the young man's shirt.

The dingy blond blinked in utter confusion at her before a frown started to crease his forehead. He didn't know what had happened or what was wrong, but knew enough to know that she was obviously upset about something. "What's wrong?" he asked her sincerely as he wrapped his arm around her in condolence, taken back by how concerned he felt for her ---when she didn't reply to his question he frowned more. "Come on," he said to her as he gently started to lead her away. "I know a place where we can go that's a little more private." Rylea nodded her head solemnly, wiping her tears away as she allowed the dingy blond to lead her away ---not really caring where he was taking her as long as it was away from her father and her problems.

Tadin lead Rylea to the outskirts of the city where the penthouse he shared with Adian, Sato and a few other lower ranked demons was. The girl who walked along side him said nothing as she kept her face lowered, her bangs hiding her eyes and the tears he knew were still there. Once inside he ushered her over to the three-section couch that sat in front of the big screen tv they had five finger discounted from a local electronics store a while back. Tadin did a quick sweep of the area with his senses, checking to make sure that none of the other tenants of the house were there ---giving a silent praise that the place was completely empty, he'd have a hard time explaining to them why she was there and not with Sirous. With his scan done, he flicked his gaze back over onto the dark haired girl slouched over with her forearms resting on her knees ---hands clasped together as if she were praying. Her shaggy dark brown-black hair hung over her shoulders as her wild bangs hung in her face, acting as a shield for her.

The young hybrid felt confusion come over him at how concerned he felt for the girl he was supposed to cross over and corrupt to the side of evil, supposed to make her one of them even if she didn't want to become one. Pushing the thoughts of compassion from his mind he cleared his throat and sat down next to her, setting his blue eyes on her as he thought of something to say to start a conversation. "Ah," he stuttered out while he pondered over what to say. "Do you want to tell me what happened to get you so upset?"

No reply came from Rylea, she didn't even so much as give him the slightest inclination that she was even listening to him. Tadin frowned more as he reached out to brush back her bangs from her face, trying to get a better look at what expression she had there now. Rylea didn't flinch away from him, actually allowing him to tuck her hair back behind her ear as she simply kept a livid and almost wounded glare pointed at the wood floor ---tears still present in her vivid blue eyes. "Lea," Tadin tried again, taken back by how sincere he sounded but ignored it. "What's wrong and I want an answer. Don't just tell me its nothing or you're fine because you're not. You look like someone who has a lot of troubles on her mind."

Rylea scoffed at his statement as a light smirk came to her lips. Tadin didn't know the half of all her problems. "You're right, I do have a lot of problems on my mind," she replied and turned her bright blue gaze on him. "Where do you want me to start? How bout I start way back to when my Mother died and I was left to die along with her or when I found out that I was destined to become what my father once was. Or do you mean for me to tell you that my father, the one person I trust and love more than any person on this wretched planet, just hurt me in more ways then he will ever know. Is that what you want to hear about, Tadin?!" New tears welled in her blue eyes as she ranted off to the surprised dingy blond who only blinked at her in startled confusion, "Well is it?!"

"Rylea I-"

"Didn't know?" she finished for him cynically, her eyes flashing dangerously at him as she turned her body sideways to face him. "Didn't know what? That my Mother is dead? That my life isn't as peachy keen as everybody likes to think it is? That I'm cursed to follow in my father's foot steps? That my life has been nothing but an up and down hill roller coaster since the day my Mother was viciously murdered? Which one was it, Tadin?"

Tadin just eyed the obviously enraged girl as she ranted off about the problems in her life. He didn't know what her father had done that could have hurt her this badly, Ryo hadn't given him the impression that he was that kind of father. As to her Mother, Tadin really hadn't known that she was dead. No one had told him that and he figured that she was just out when he had been over to her house that one day. Understanding for her situation filled him now. He himself had lost his Mother, along with his Father and whole family when he was young ---the only difference was he had no memories of any of them. In fact, he really didn't know that he had ever had a family to begin with. The only Mother figure he had ever had in his life was Lucinda, the demon woman who had taken him in as a young child. It had been years now since he had seen Lucinda and Tadin wasn't really sure as to how she was.

Meeting the tear filled vivid blue eyes of the dark skinned girl who sat next to him, he said as sincerely as he could, "I'm sorry Lea. I didn't know about your Mother and I didn't know that you had that many complications in your life."

"Heh," she huffed out and snapped her head away from the blond to point her gaze now at the wall as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I don't want or need your pity. Save it for someone who does."

"Look," Tadin said sternly, getting tired of her stubborn behavior. He was trying to console her the best he knew how and she wasn't making it any easier on him. "I know what it's like to lose someone close to you. I'm not trying to put pity on you or give you my sympathy, I'm simply trying to help you. You're upset and I hate seeing you like this."

Rylea eyed the dingy blond, staring back at his unshaken and almost unnerving gaze. He meant what he said and she knew that, some how she just knew. This guy who she had barely known more than two weeks was actually concerned about her and trying to make her feel better the best he could. But why? Why would someone who you didn't know well enough to call a good friend waste his time on trying to sort out your problems? To take the time to say I care and want to help you. Immediately though, Rylea's emotional road blocks came into play and she shut herself down from Tadin ---not wanting for him to see her as weak or accept his help in any way. Accepting help from anyone was seen as a sign of weakness to her and Rylea Sanada was far from weak, or at least that's what she tried to portray to everyone. "Why do you care?" she threw back at the blond with a pointed glare, confusion melted across her face as she furrowed her brows into a slant.

Her question took him by surprise because Tadin didn't really know why he cared. He shouldn't and really wasn't supposed. Maybe he was starting to feel for this girl. The girl he would soon be turning, claiming a prize on for a job well done. Could that be true though? Could Tadin actually have feelings for Rylea? "I-I" he stuttered out as he searched for the right words. "I don't know. I guess because I know where you're coming from and can relate to you, I feel like I should. I really don't know how to put it in words."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the two young teens. Neither really didn't know what else to say to the other or didn't feel that what they wanted to say was the right thing to bring up at that moment. After a while of the uncomfortable silence, Rylea rubbed her arms in a nervous fashion before then standing up from her seat on the couch next to the young man. "I think I'd better get going," she stated quietly, almost mumbling, while walking back over to the door. Tadin frowned in confusion at Rylea before getting up and following after her.

"Why? Was it something I said?" he asked her, demanding an answer from her even if it wasn't the reply he wanted to hear.

Rylea turned around to face him at the door, half way standing in the door way on her way out, "No, you didn't do anything," she replied and then turned back to the door and began to exit it once again. "Arigatou for listening to me, Tadin-san."

The young hybrid allowed himself a slight smile, in what he considered to be, triumph as he watched her fleeing form disappearing into the now dark streets. He had overcome that boundary blocking him from gaining her trust and now he had it. He had her trust and he had her right where he wanted her. All that was left was for the word to come from Sirous and then the glory and fame would be all his ---but did he still want it? Did Tadin really still feel the need to turn her or was his feelings starting to change?

Hours had passed since the time Rylea had run off from her father til now. Night had fallen as the dark haired man paced the floors of his front room in his worry and anxiety. Kento, who was a cop for the Toyama Police Department, had been called in to search for her ---so far no news of her being found had come up. Ryu sat on the couch, watching his father pace with a sense of humor and perplexity. The brown haired young man chuckled as he listened to his father's babbling to himself, sure that if he paced any longer he was going to wear a hole in the floor. "Dad," he said to him, trying to keep the mirth from his voice as he scolded his worrying father. "Why don't you sit down before you wear a hole in the floor and then really have something to complain about."

"I can't," Ryo shot back at his son, not bothering to stop his persistent pacing as he continued to mumble things to himself. "I shouldn't have yelled at her like that, damn my temper. Gods _why_ did I grab her? Stupid, stupid thing to do."

"Dad," Ryu reprimanded him again. "Stop beating your self up over this. If you ask me, it's about time you started disciplining her more efficiently. Besides, she'll be home soon. Where else can she go where someone won't call you as soon as she shows up?"

Ryo stopped his pacing to throw an annoyed glare over at his son. Although he did have a point about the coming home part. Outside of the family circle where else could she go? She'd have to come home evidentially, unless something were to happen to her. Ryo squashed the thought of that happening as quickly as it came across his mind, that was the last thing he needed to be thinking about now. He instead flicked his gaze from his son on the couch to his faithful white tiger who lay at Ryu's feet. Whiteblaze, besides Ryu, seemed to be the only one keeping his cool. The tiger was acting as if nothing were wrong. Ryo smirked in thought, _now why can't I act more like Blaze? Just be laid back and act like I have not a care in the world. Maybe because I'm a human and not a cat and have the responsibility of taking care of a lazy son and a hot headed daughter._

Whiteblaze's ears perked up at the sounds of the front door opening and closing, followed by two pairs of feet ---this brought Ryo from his thoughts as he glanced over his shoulder in the direction the door would be. He glanced over at Ryu quickly to shoot him a hopeful smile before then quickly zipping around the wall that separated the two rooms. Coming around the corner he was met by the sight of Kento in his police uniform, complete with gun and all, as the ash-blue haired man came walking from the door. "Whoa," Kento said and held up his hands to ward Ryo off. "Don't rush me like that man. I could've pulled my gun out on instinct and shot ya."

"Where's Lea Kento?" Ryo asked him, skipping over the joke Kento had made to try and make him smile. His voice was almost pleading sounding as he searched the small hallway for his daughter. "Did you find my daughter?"

Kento sighed as he took one step to his left, revealing a nervous and almost cowering Rylea standing behind him. Her clothes that she wore were grungy, dirty and had grease stains on them from crouching on the cement ground of the parking lot as she hid behind cars to keep from being seen by her father. Ryo's expression on his face brightened at the sight of his daughter's safe and visibly unharmed return. "Lea! Thank God you're ok, koibito," he exclaimed while rushing to gather his daughter in his arms.

Rylea in turn stepped back away from him and behind her uncle, seemingly cowering from the man she striking resembled. Ryo stopped in his tracks, frowning at his daughter's actions in bewilderment. He didn't understand why she was acting like that towards him. Yeah, he figured that she'd be mad at him and probably wouldn't be talking to him for a while, but he hadn't thought that she would be acting like this towards him. Ryu came around the corner then, walking up behind his father with a smile at his sister as if nothing were wrong. His smile faded at the expressions from the three people in the hallway though as confusion slowly replaced it. The young man looked from one person to the other, silently asking for an answer as to what was going on.

Ryo stared at his daughter with questioning eyes, not understanding and almost hurt by her actions. "Lea I-" he started and stopped when he found him self at a loss of words. What could he say to her?

"Ah," Kento said as he reached behind him to gently lay a hand on his niece's back, trying to assure her that she was going to be ok with a warm smile. "Why don't you go ahead and go with Rye, sweetie. Your uncle Kento will have a chat with your Dad for you and make things right again, k?" He winked at her as Rylea nodded solemnly and took her brother's outstretched hand to walk with him up to her room ---not even giving her father a sideways glance as she passed him.

Ryo gaped after her in stunned disbelief before turning inquiring eyes on Kento. The large, oriental man sighed audibly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Ryo man, you've really done it this time," he told him flat out, not even wanting to beat around the bush with him. "I had to beg her to get in the car so I could take her home. She just didn't want to come here."

"Thanks Kento," Ryo replied angrily. "make me feel worse why don't you."

"Sorry Ryo, but I had to tell you," he said and then laid a hand on his shoulder in condolence. "Look, I don't know the whole story of what went on between you two Ryo, but I know that whatever you did really hurt her."

"Like I couldn't already figure that out? A lot of good you're doing me Kento."

"Hey," he replied with raised arms. "I'm just stating the facts. Look, if it makes you feel any better, I think that a little talking and apologizing might set everything right again. I know the girl loves ya too much to really hold a grudge. Then again.... this is Lea we're talking about here."

"Well, thanks Dr. Phil. I will do that. As soon as I can get her to look at me I'll try and beg her to forgive me for my stupid mistake, ok?" Ryo ranted to the ash-blue haired man as he threw his arms up in exasperation at the whole situation, feeling almost lost and confused.

"You do that," Kento replied with a grin as he patted his shoulder and opened the front door. "I'll talk to you later, Ryo. Ja Ne." With that Kento walked out of the door and then closed it behind himself, leaving Ryo alone now in the hallway by the front door.

Ryo walked back into the now deserted front room; he was feeling more miserable then he had before Rylea had been brought home. He still couldn't understand why she had acted as if she were afraid of him. Could what he had done upset her that badly? He sighed as he slumped down onto the couch, putting his head in his hands as he thought over how he was ever going to make things right again ---if he _could_ ever make things right again with her that is.

A few hours later Ryo clicked off the tv and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. He hadn't really been watching it anyway and didn't think he could even if he tried. He glanced up with tired eyes at his daughter's room, frowning at the closed door that seemed to act as a barrier between him and her. Sighing to himself he decided that he should at least go and check to make sure that she was ok and still in her room, even if she wasn't talking to him at that time. Quietly he made his was from the front room, up the stairs and down the hall to Rylea's room. As silently as he could he opened her door, light from downstairs pouring in to illuminate the darkness that incased it. Ryo smiled lightly as he walked into the room on silent feet ---Whiteblaze's head shot up from where it had laid on his paws to see who the intruder was, which then made Rylea stir in her sleep.

Ryo reached out and patted the tiger to let him know who he was and then looked down at his sleeping daughter as Whiteblaze settled back down on the bed, content that the intruder was family and not a stranger. Gently as to not wake her, he sat down on the bed next to her ---just watching her slowly breathe for a while as he thought over what he was going to do. He smiled softly and reached out to gently brush back her unruly bangs from her face that hung over her eyes. After a while of silence Ryo decided to finally break that as he spoke softly to the sleeping child. "I am so sorry koibito," he whispered to her sleeping form, not really caring if she could hear him or not but felt that he had to say something for his own self. "I wish I could take back what I did. I really do."

Only the quiet stillness of the room came as his answer and he had anticipated he'd get that reply. Ryo smiled sadly as he leaned down to kiss the side of her face, lying his forehead gently against hers. "I really am," he whispered to her again. Rylea in turn stirred in her sleep suddenly, stretching her arms and legs before rolling over onto her side. Ryo smiled at her actions, gently brushing her hair from around her face again as it fell right back into the place it had been in before. It still didn't seem real to him in some way. It seemed like a dream to Ryo, he couldn't, or didn't want to, believe that he could have actually hurt his daughter with his own hands ---had watched as she ran from him as if he were some horrible person that she had to get away from. Watched her struggle to get away from him as if he were the enemy to her. It made him feel more and more angry with himself for what he had done the more he thought about it. He had to smile though when he thought about how skillfully she had taken down and evaded two experienced Ronin Warriors, but his brief humor quickly faded away as the thoughts of that day came creeping back to him.

All Ryo really wanted to do right then was hug her. Just scoop her up into his arms and hold her close while begging for her to forgive him, but instead he just sat there ---sat there watching her sleep for the longest time. He hadn't even known he had been there for so long until his eyes began to droop closed with the wanting of sleep. Rubbing his eyes as if to try and erase the sleep that he knew he needed, Ryo gave his daughter one last kiss good night before getting up and trudging out of her room with slouched, almost defeated looking posture.

Once the door had been shut and Ryo had gone, Rylea opened her eyes and stared off into the darkness that incased her room once again. She'd heard everything her father had said to her and a part of her deep down believed every word he had said. She believed that he was actually sorry and felt remorse for what he had done. Believed that maybe he hadn't really meant to do it and would take it back if he could. Immediately Rylea felt terrible about the way she had treated her father. Thinking that maybe she had over reacted and if she had just stayed and worked it out with him then maybe they wouldn't be in the mess they were in now. Somehow now it had gone from being her father's fault for the way she had acted to now being her fault in some small little way. Sighing and promising herself that tomorrow they would talk it all out, Rylea rolled over onto her other side ---snuggling close to Whiteblaze as if he were a stuffed animal as she tried to fall back asleep once again.

A few days had passed since the episode with Rylea and Ryo. Now everything was back to normal with the two. The sun was setting now, still high in the sky but was slowly starting on its descent. Ryo walked out onto his back porch, shouting out to his daughter, "Rylea!"

Rylea dropped her katanas to her side with an agitated growl as she glanced over her shoulder at her father and shouted back, "Nani?!"

Ryo allowed himself a slight smirk at her, "Your brother and I are going out to take care of some business. Will you be ok while we're gone?"

Rylea chortled ruefully at his question as she turned around completely to look at her father who stood on the porch in front of her, "Dad, how old am I?"

"Maturity wise or age wise?" he asked back sarcastically, smiling at the face she made at him.

"So not funny Dad."

Ryo smiled as Ryu came up beside him and smirked out at his little sister. "Oh I don't know," Ryu said as he pretended to ponder over it. "I thought it was pretty funny actually."

Rylea glared at her brother threateningly, "Yeah, well who asked you?"

Ryu smirked back arrogantly at his little sister, "Nobody, but I didn't ask for a bratty sister and still got one so I think its fair."

"Shut up!" Rylea retorted back angrily, not liking his comment about her at all.

"And I didn't ask for either of you, but I still got you two," Ryo added and both of his children went quiet. Glancing between the two sternly he then continued to reprimand them both for their behavior, "Lea, I was just asking a simple question. A yes Dad I'll be fine would have been sufficient and Rye, the comment wasn't necessary."

Rylea stuck her tongue out childishly at Ryu who in turn glared back and mouthed promises of enduring pain and torture to her. Ryo sighed and glanced up at the heavens briefly as he mouthed 'why', before looking back at his two children with a not so amused expression. "Ok, now lets try this again. Lea, your brother and I will be gone for a while. Will you be ok here by yourself?" he repeated his first question to her again, expecting the right answer from her this time.

Rylea grinned sweetly at him in return as she swayed from side to side, "Hai, Daddy I'll be fine here by myself. I'm a big girl now and I think I can kick an intruders butt if I need to."

Ryu chuckled at his sister as his father shook his dark head in mirth, wondering how he'd ended up with two brain damaged kids. "Must you always be sarcastic?" he asked her back.

"Yeah, if I wasn't then it just wouldn't be me," she replied with a triumphant, wide smile.

"Right, how silly of me to ask," Ryo retorted with a roll of his tiger blue eyes. "Ok, we'll be back soon. Come on Rye." Enough said to his daughter, Ryu and Ryo turned and began to walk to the parked car in the driveway.

A foreboding feeling of dread over came Rylea as she watched her brother and father walk away from her. Something in the back of her mind clicked and she had this terrible feeling that she wouldn't see them again. "Dad wait!" she shouted and dropped her katanas to run to her father.

"Hm?" Ryo replied as he turned around to be met with his daughter throwing her arms around him, making him stumble back before catching his footing again. Taken back her actions Ryo just stared down at her blankly. "Rylea, sweetie, I'm just going into town. Its not like I'm not coming back," he told her with a smile coming to his face.

"I know," she mumbled back, still holding onto him as if for dear life.

Ryo glanced over at Ryu for help who only shrugged and then back down at his daughter, "Jouchan, do you want to come with us? You don't have to stay here you know."

Rylea shook her head no as she stepped back from her father, "No, you guys go ahead. I'll be fine, I've got Whiteblaze here." The large feline walked up next to her at the mention of his name, rubbing his giant head against the girl's thigh with a purr.

Ryo smiled and patted the tiger's head, "You watch over my little girl, ok Blaze?" Whiteblaze purred back as his answer and Ryo smiled in understanding.

"We going Dad?" Ryu asked impatiently from where he sat in the car ready to go.

"Yeah, we're going," he replied over his shoulder to his son before walking towards the car and getting in. "Ja Ne Lea, we'll be back soon," he told her while pulling out of the driveway. Rylea waved to them as they left, not knowing that it may have been the last time she'd ever see her father and brother.

Smiling once again, Rylea picked up her katanas to resume her training that had been interrupted. The large tiger following after her, laying down on the grass as he watched her stop and position herself in a pose he had seen Ryo use many times before. Rylea stood out in the middle of her backyard, katanas in hand, one hand held out in front of her while the other was positioned on her side diagonally. Her eyes were closed as she tried to clear her mind of all thoughts. Whiteblaze watched her from where he laid on the grass. He didn't really understand what she was doing, but he had been ordered by Ryo to watch her and watch her he would.

All of a sudden the quiet stillness that surrounded the two was interrupted when Rylea let out a battle cry and started attacking the air around her in fluid, practiced movements. Whiteblaze stared at her as if she had gone crazy before remembering that it was part of her training and settled himself back down on the grass to watch his young mistress fight her imaginary foe.

"Hi-ya!" Rylea shouted, bringing one of her katanas down on her imaginary adversary. She then swung around gracefully as if she were doing a dance, stopping with her right hand raised with the katana held straight out in the air. Breathing hard, she smiled and exclaimed happily, "Ha! Take that Rye!"

Whiteblaze stretched as he yawned, the tiger's long claws extending from his large paws. Rylea strolled past him, stopping at the back door to the house to drop her katanas on the porch before walking inside. Whiteblaze got up and followed after her, walking up to the door after her to only find the door slammed in his face. Whiteblaze backed away from the door, staring at it in confused astonishment before deciding to settle down next to it instead of trying to get his absent minded owner to open it for him.

Inside, Rylea stretched her arms, loosing the muscles she had just used while practicing. She stopped suddenly, sensing something in the house with her. Her eyes darted around the room she was in, trying to find the intruder. The young girl's muscles began to tense with the feeling of a fight coming ---a predatory feeling rushed over her. That feeling like she was playing cat and mouse and she was the tiger in the game. Her lips curled into a smirk with out her knowing while she quietly slipped over to the wall ---pressing herself against it, trying to flatten herself out as much as she could. Her breathing became slow and silent as all of Rylea's senses went on heightened alert. Her ninja instincts told her to blend in, become as stealthy as a tiger and find her enemy and that she did.

Slowly with graceful, quiet steps Rylea made her way to the edge of the wall that divided the kitchen from the living room. She could feel her blood start to race through her veins while she peeked her head around the corner ---her eyes searched the dimly lit room for her enemy. Her body was on fire from the inside out and her fire pendant crackled and thrummed against her chest. Without knowing, she wrapped her fingers tightly around the smooth, but warm metal as a feeling of strength came alive within her.

Quickly Rylea slipped from the wall and crouched down next to the armrest of the couch in the next room of the house. Her adrenaline was pumping, coursing its self throughout her body ---she could feel the presence stronger then before now. Someone was here, in _her_ house and she was going to find that person. Rylea pressed her self against the side of the couch more ---trying to blend in with it when her ears picked up the sound of silent feet. Someone was walking towards her from behind the couch and whoever this person was didn't want her to hear them.

She grinned, loving this game of cat and mouse. This person was on her territory ---she was the tiger and this person was about to become her prey. _What an idiot. Think I don't hear ya, think again. You picked the wrong girl to mess with. The _wrong_ girl pal._ The sound of padding feet was getting closer to where she was positioned by the couch. Rylea's heart began to beat faster with anticipation. She clenched her hands into fists, getting ready to fight. That inner predator in her was out, that inner warrior was there and ready to kick some butt.

The footsteps came closer and closer. Rylea stayed where she was though, waiting for the right moment to strike. She was the hunter and he was the prey. _Come on, come on. _Closer and closer, step by step. _That's it, just a few more. Come on. _Step by step, closer and closer until.....

"Hi-ya!" Rylea shouted, leaping from her spot by the couch to attack the person. Her hand came out in a lethal swing but came in contact with no one. Rylea blinked, searching the room for the person she knew was there. "What's going on? I know there was someone here," she pondered out loud, baffled by her finding no one. "I don't get it. Huh," Her senses screamed out a warning that something was behind her and she turned around ---barely missing the fist that was aimed at her head.

Rylea jumped back away from her attacker, assuming one of the many ninja stances her father had taught her. Her eyes came to rest on her attacker and at first she thought she was seeing things. Rylea's attacker wasn't human, but a monster. The thing was an olive color with two horns protruding from his head. His fingers were more like long claws and were quite sharp looking ---a crinkly mess of red hair clung to the top of its head.

Rylea reeled back in horror from not only the sheer ugliness of the thing but from the stench as well. It smelled like rotting eggs and garbage. "Ew, what are you?" she asked the thing in front of her.

The thing only let out a gurgling sound from deep within its throat, "I'm the one who's going to bring you back and claim the glory for it."

"Back? Back where?" Rylea inquired as she blinked in baffled confusion before laughing as it all set in. "Oh I get it. This is some kind of a test. Ok, ok, I get it, Rye. Where's Dad?"

The monstrous creature blinked, confused by her questions. Rylea laughed nervously after seeing that, "Rye come on, you can stop now. Jokes over, ha ha you two got me. Dad you can come out now."

"Enough of your foolish babbling. You are mine hybrid," the creature stated and lunged for the dark haired girl in front of him.

Rylea quickly sidestepped him though, wincing when the thing crashed into the lamp on the coffee table ---sending it crashing to the ground with a loud smashing sound. "Hey pal, I am not getting blamed for that one," she stated to the thing angrily as she pointed to the now destroyed lamp. "Do you have any idea what my Dad's going to say when he sees that?"

The creature got up from where he had fallen on the floor, coming at Rylea with a furry of slashes, punches and screams. Rylea dodged all of them skillfully, barely missing being slashed to pieces a few times though. The noise coming from inside awoke the sleeping feline on the back porch. Whiteblaze climbed to his feet and paced by the back door, roaring and trying to find a way to get inside.

Not caring about what would happen, the tiger jumped through the window and collided with the kitchen table. Shaking his head to rid himself of the fuzziness that clouded his vision, he searched for his young mistress. Spying her and the creature that was attacking her, Whiteblaze roared and lunged for the monster. Landing on top of it he sunk his teeth into the thing who let out a yelp of pain in reply.

Rylea, seeing that the tiger had come to her aid, took her chance and ran for the backdoor ---flinging it open and headed for the woods that surrounded her house. Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears as something in the back of her mind kept telling her that something was familiar about all of this ---something that she couldn't quite grasp. Rylea blindly ran through the trees, not sure where she was going but knew that she had to get as far away from the house and that thing as she possibly could. Running into the opening in the woods she stopped and surveyed her surroundings. Something about this clearing felt oddly and almost terrifyingly familiar to her. The sound of a twig snapping alerted her senses to something or someone behind her. "Who's there?!" she demanded while whirling around to look behind herself.

"Well, this place sure does bring back memories," a male's voice floated to her ears from somewhere among the trees that surround the clearing.

"What are you talking about?" Rylea retorted, whirling around again to look behind herself. She gasped when she found the outline of a person standing behind her, half hidden from view by the trees and bushes before everything just went black and the dark haired girl crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.

A/N: Ok, I know that I don't have anyone else in this besides the Sanada family, Tadin and a cameo appearance from Kento, but I had to get all of this in here so that I could get this story rolling. The next chapter will have more of the girls in it, (I hope) along with Leinto. Special thanks to Two-BitGortez, Sifirela, Rogue and Morgan Ray. More chaps to come soon.


	14. Chapter 13

****

Chapter 13

::July 21::

"How could this have happened?!" Ryo ranted as he once again found himself pacing the floors of his front room. Everyone now knew about the disappearance of the youngest of the Lady Ronins. Leinto had been summoned by them but the charge had no answers as to her whereabouts nor did he know of who had taken her. Leinto was acting shady about the whole thing though, somehow seemingly knowing more then what he was saying but was keeping it to himself. The girls had been told, but were kept out of the conversation that their father's now held ---they weren't too happy about it either. The other men sat around in the front room watching their once leader pace idly as the aging charge sat quietly with staff in hand, his gray eyes silently following the dark haired man as he walked back and forth in front of him.

"Ryo man, we all understand that you're upset and obviously worried about where Lea is but don't you think you should chill out?" Kento suggested from his seat next to Cye on the couch. The ex-water Ronin nodded his head to back up what Kento had said.

"Chill out?" Ryo repeated as he stopped his pacing to glance over at Kento with wide, almost unbelieving eyes. "You want me to chill out? How can I chill out when I don't even know where my daughter is or what's happening to her?!"

"Ryo, please just calm down for a minute," Rowen said to try and persuade the fiery tempered man. Ryo loosing his temper now and going off on a rampage was not going to help any of them.

"Yelling and screaming isn't going to bring Rylea back or help us find her any faster," Sage added to the conversation from where he stood leaning against the wall opposite them with arms crossed. The blond seemed to be almost annoyed by Ryo's lack of self control.

Ryo conceded to their pleadings and did as they had asked him to do, with a sigh and growl of aggravation he sat down on the couch next to Kento. Leaning over he rested his forearms on his knees and covered his face with his hands, trying to block out the new problems he had. The graying charge stood slowly from his spot with the help of his staff, leaning on it slightly as he stood to look at each man sitting or standing in the room. "I must go now," he stated to them in an almost apologetic tone. "I will gather as much information as I can concerning the disappearance of Rylea and get back to you shortly." His statement ended, the charge gave them a bow and was gone from the room.

Kento reached over and patted Ryo on the back, trying to lighten the dismal mood that hung over them all he said, "Look on the bright side. At least you don't have to deal with her now." Cye cleared his throat and made a cutting motion with his hand against his throat to try and signal to Kento to cut it out or not say anything else. Kento just blinked at the brunette with a light shrug, not really seeing where what he had said was all that bad.

Cye glared at Kento as he spoke, "I don't think Ryo wants to look at this that way Kento," he said to the oriental man who only shrugged as the brunette sighed audibly.

"What we need to think about right now is a plan or course of action. Do we leave the girls out of this or do we involve them?" Sage added to the conversation thoughtfully from where he still stood leaned against the fore wall with arms crossed.

Ryo chuckled cynically at Kento's words, not really finding them funny but more so ironic. Pulling his hands down his face he stared around at his friends. The Ronin Warriors, or more like the _EX_-Ronin Warriors now. Even though they had given up fighting a long time ago and now had passed the armor on, they still acted like they were the Ronin Warriors. As soon as the news of Rylea's kidnapping had spread all five of them had immediately met up at Ryo's place to discuss what their next move was ---the same thing they would have done when they were still in business. _I guess old habits die hard_. Ryo thought with a slight smirk before he stood to address the others. "I think," he started in a loud enough voice to gain the other's attention. "that we need to involve the girls in this even though we don't want to. As much as we don't want to admit it, we really can't do much. They have the armors and this is their battle."

Rowen bobbed his head back and forth as if he agreed with what Ryo was saying but not totally, "I agree that they should be involved in this but I don't think that we should just sit back and not do anything."

"Yeah," Kento agreed with a nod of his ash-blue head. "We may not have the armors any more but we can still kick some ass if needed to."

"You all know that I'm not one to fight, but if we need to help them then yes I will," Cye consented with down cast eyes. The idea of fighting again didn't sound all that pleasant to him, but if his daughter needed his help then Cye wasn't going to just sit back and do nothing.

Sage uncrossed his arms as he walked over to Ryo and laid his hand on his shoulder. "Ryo," he said, "you know I've got your back through anything. Now is not the time to sit back and act like we've been crippled because we don't have the armors. We are more experienced in battles then the girls are and they will need our help in finding Rylea. It's time that we all realized that the vacation is over and that it ended when the armors were awakened. The Ronin Warriors are needed once again."

Ryo glanced around at the faces of his friends, his companions and battle partners. They had been through hell and back, had survived against all odds together and he knew that he could depend on them to always be there for him and never steer him wrong. It was time that he came to the realization that his happy little vacation and normal life was over and probably for good. The Ronins had been called into battle again and fight they would, armor or not. With a smile he held out his hand, palm down and said, "Ronins."

With a smile and glance at each other the other Ronins got up to walk to Ryo and lay their hands on his. Together they all said, "Ronins," and once again they were the Ronin Warriors.

"Ow, oh my head," Rylea groaned as she opened her eyes and groggily tried to make herself raise her head to look around at her surroundings. She was confused when her eyes settled upon the settings of her surroundings and didn't recognize where she was "Where am I?"

Her tiger blue eyes searched around the place she found herself in perplexed and fearful confusion. Her surroundings were dark, cold, wet and smelled of mildew. Water drops fell from above her and landed on the already started puddles on the cement floor beside her. She shivered slightly and wasn't sure if it was from being cold or because she sensed an evil aura all around her. It hung so think in the air that she was sure that if she looked close enough she could see it. Trying to move her arms proved to be useless since heavy chains were clamped around her wrists and hung from the stone wall behind her.

Rylea groaned again as a searing pain jolted through her head with an intensity so great that it made her cry out from it. Her body ached and burned from the inside out as the feeling like a wall of pressure was building behind her eyes filled her head. "So I see you are awake finally, Rylea. Or should I now be calling you Wildfire?" a males voice asked of her from the shadows that surrounded her.

Rylea tried to open her eyes against the pounding pain that ran through her head with searing, hot intensity ---barely being able to get them open, "Who-Who are you?! What do you want?!"

A chuckle floated from the shadows, "My, for someone who's in a very bad situation you sure are quick to get an attitude, aren't you?"

"Yeah, well why don't you show yourself! Or are you too afraid to?" Rylea shouted back angrily at the mystery person, now opening her eyes wide as the pain left her momentarily.

Another loud, sinister, chuckle came from the shadows around her. Rylea bared her teeth and growled, she was starting to lose her temper quickly with whoever this person was and that was not a good thing. A man stepped from the shadows around her, smiling broadly at her as he revealed himself at last. "Is this better?" he asked her back almost mockingly.

Rylea gasped as she stared at the person in front of her. He was tall, dark skinned with long silver hair. His outfit, as simple as it was, consisted of a black muscle T, gray dress pants, black boots and a silver-gray cape lay behind him to complete the ensemble. Something about this man triggered a memory far back in her mind, but Rylea couldn't bring it forth for some reason. "Who-Who," she stuttered out in uncertainty, but couldn't form the rest of her sentence.

The man smiled coldly at her, "Who am I? Don't tell me you don't remember me Rylea. I'm almost hurt by that."

"Almost? Darn, and here I was aiming to really cut you deep," Rylea sarcastically retorted back at the man she knew nothing about.

The man smiled more as if amused by her and walked closer to the chained girl. Rylea eyed him cautiously as she withdrew from his sudden closeness, not liking him or his aura at all ---he had a feeling of death that surrounded him completely. The silver haired man eyed her while the smile on his face never changed. Rylea hated the way he looked at her ---it was like he was inspecting a piece of meat and she was the poultry of choice. Now she wished more then anything that she would have picked a more conspicuous training outfit. It made her uncomfortable with the way he was just staring at her, not even saying anything. Finally the silver haired man grinned broadly and said, "You have no idea as to what you _really _are, do you?"

Rylea looked up at him, glaring defiantly back at the smile he gave her. She was tempted to spit in his face and tell him to go to hell but instead bit her tongue and resigned her self to at least be sarcastic with him. "No, why don't you tell me," she retorted smugly.

The dark skinned man stepped closer to her, his face now only a few dangerous inches away from hers. She could now smell the pungent fume of his aftershave and it repulsed her. "You're very special. Not many humans get to be what you've become Lea," he stated to her in hushed tones as if what he were saying was not meant to be heard by other ears.

Rylea recoiled her face back away from his, frightened by how menacing he looked. "What are you talking about? Can't you just speak plain Japanese and its Rylea to you pal," she spat back at him defiantly with a glare. "Only my family and friends get to call me Lea and you sir are _definitely _not my friend or family."

"Oh but you see I am family to you because you're a hybrid, a demon and a part of me. A very special hybrid to be exact. You have no clue as to what kind of power you hold inside you," he replied and touched her chest lightly where her two necklaces laid. "A power that most hybrids can only dream of holding. Your power rivals that of a purebreds."

"I'm a demon you said?" Rylea repeated as if not hearing him right with a glare to show that she didn't appreciate being touched. When the dark skinned man nodded to clarify that she was, Rylea erupted into a fit of laughter. "That's a good one. I'm the daughter of a Ronin Warrior and you tell me I'm a demon. Ha, ha, ha, that's funny."

The corners of the man's mouth flinched at her antics, he was starting to lose his patience with her now. She was mocking him and that was something that he didn't tolerate. "Think what you want to think, but very soon your powers will awaken and you will see that what I say is true," he said and turned from her to leave before he ended up strangling her. "I hear its going to be a new moon on your birthday this year too."

Rylea stared after him, she didn't want for the guy to leave just yet. "Hey!" she shouted after him. "Get back here! I wasn't done talking to you! Grrr, my father is going to kill you when he finds me! You hear me?! _Kill_ you!"

The man didn't even so much as flinch at her shouts and promises of death as he walked away ---he was a purebred and the promises of a mortal killing him wasn't really all that threatening to him. Rylea growled when it became evident that he either didn't care or wasn't paying her any heed. This infuriated her by not only him not listening to her but by her also being held captive. She pulled at her chains with all her strength in a vain attempt to break free. Finally giving up with an agitated growl when it became clear to her that she wasn't going to be able to break them. Rylea needed to conserve her energy and it was pointless to try and get free. Giving in to the fact she wouldn't be getting out just yet, Rylea instead started to devise a plan in her mind. She had to get out ---that's the only thing she knew.

****

::July 22::

The Sanada house was abnormally quiet with only the exception of the sounds coming from the coffee maker in the kitchen. A day had now passed, it was Monday and still none of them were any closer to finding Rylea. Leinto had been little or no help at all in aiding them in the search for her, but to be truthful, none of them had really expected to get much from him anyway.

The morning sun shone through the open windows to create shadows against the running matt on the upstairs floor. Ryo yawned, stretching his arms to the sky as he made his way to his daughter's room. Opening the door to her room he said, "Lea it's time-" before stopping when the realization hit him ---Rylea wasn't there.

Her room was completely empty. The bed still unmade from the last time she'd slept in it and clothes from the day before littered her floor. Ryo had gone to wake her up like he usually did in the morning, forgetting that she wasn't there. A wave of grief hit him with the impact of a tidal wave as his shoulders slumped and his eyes fell to the floor. Before he knew what he was doing, Ryo found his feet had him moving in the direction of her bed. He looked over the empty bed with its red comforter and white sheets ---gently touching her stuffed animals that were strewn all over the bed. Ryo lifted the stuffed tiger from its position on her bed and stared at it as if he were reading something ---tears came to his eyes and he had to sit down on the edge of her bed as his knees started to buckle beneath him.

Ryo sniffed back the hot tears that laid just behind his eyes, refusing to let himself cry. He instead cradled the stuffed tiger in his arms and looked around Rylea's room with a stern, almost unemotional expression ---trying his best to keep himself from letting the tears that he knew were still there flow. His eyes silently scanned over the numerous trophies, ribbons and medals she had for basket ball and gymnastics that she'd collected over the years, hanging on her walls with pictures next to them or sitting on shelves on the walls. Once again he felt the hot tears well up in his eyes, but held them back ---closing his eyes against them, determined that he wasn't going to give in to his grief.

A soft hand gently clamped down on his shoulder, shaking Ryo from his thoughts as he reeled back in surprise ---glancing over his shoulder to see who the hand belonged to. Ryu's frowning face looked back at him, the brown haired man's face showed just how concerned he was for his father. "You ok?" he asked his Dad.

Ryo nodded his head softly as he stood and replaced the tiger back to where he had gotten it from. His tiger blue eyes lingered on it for a moment or two before he sighed and closed them, silently trying to regain his strength before he spoke. "Yeah, I just forgot that-" he couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence, knowing full well what the answer he would come up with would be.

Ryu put a comforting arm around his father's shoulders as he lead him out of his sister's room and softly shut the door behind them. "Dad, it's going to be ok. We're going to find her," he told him with confidence, but it sounded fake and like he had practiced saying it to just try and pacify his father.

Ryo smiled at his son, knowing that Ryu was saying that to assure himself as well. He put his arm around his son and hugged him as he said, "Have I told you that I love you lately Rye?"

Ryu groaned in nothing short of annoyance while grumbling out, "Dad, please tell me that you're not going to go all mushy on my while Lea's gone."

"Humor me Rye. Have I?" he asked him back, still hugging the boy that now stood as tall as he did.

Ryu sighed but resigned himself to answer his father's question, "No, not lately. Not that I remember anyway."

"Well Rye, I do. I love you son and thanks for trying to make me feel better," Ryo told his son as he still hugged him, enjoying more than anything the fact that he was getting on the young man's last nerve.

"Ok, ok, I love you too Dad now can you please stop with the mushiness?" Ryu pleaded as he pushed his father away from him as fast as he could with a scorn at being made hug him and looked around as if expecting someone with a camera to jump out and shout 'you're on candid camera!'

Ryo laughed at his son's face with a bright smile, "You know, at least your sister hugs me back with out me begging her to."

"Lea's also a girl and a Daddy's girl for that matter. I'm a guy and turning nineteen; sorry but the whole 'hug your father' thing doesn't really appeal to me all that much any more," Ryu informed his father with crossed arms and an indigent frown on his handsome face. Ryo went quiet at the mention of Rylea as his eyes slowly fell to rest on the floor. Ryu cursed himself for being so insensitive of his father's feelings. "Gomen ne, Otousan. I shouldn't have brought Lea into this," he apologized sincerely for his comment.

Ryo smiled lightly as he brought his eyes back up to look at him shyly, as if not believing him he asked, "Do you really think Lea's a Daddy's girl?"

Ryu laughed at his father's lack of seeing what was obviously true. Chuckling he replied, "Hai, Dad I know she is. She still calls you Daddy for Christ sake even when she's not wanting something from you." Ryo chuckled lightly at his reply. Ryu did have a point, Rylea did do that. "Plus," Ryu continued with a smile. "You two have this tight Father-Daughter bond that I don't think anything could break. So yes, I know for a fact that she is and always will be a Daddy's girl."

Ryo smiled sadly as he thought over what all Ryu had stated to him. His son had a point with most of what he said and he did agree with the fact that they did, or at least he liked to think, that he and his daughter had a strong bond. A moment or two passed before he finally replied, "Arigatou, Rye. It cheered me up to hear you say that, even if its not true."

"Good. Now I hope you know that if you don't get a move on it you'll be late for work," he added, pointing his tanned arm out at the clock that hung on the downstairs wall.

"I get it, I get it," Ryo said as he walked backwards for the bathroom and smirked accusingly at his son. "You know, sometimes you're a lot like your Mother Rye."

Ryu laughed out loud at his father's comment, finding him funny as he walked down the stairs in the direction of the kitchen ---Ryo smirked more at his reaction before walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind himself. Ryu chuckled as he pondered out loud to himself, "Me like Mom? Now that's a laugh."

A billow of steam flowed from the bathroom as the door was opened and Ryo exited it with a towel wrapped around his waist. Even for a man who wasn't in his teens any more, he still had the same toned body only tanner. Ignoring the clock that hung on the wall downstairs, Ryo headed for his room to get dressed. Time was something that there was never enough of, he'd learned that over the years. Never enough time to share with loved ones, never enough time to do the things you wanted to do ---time, the one thing that you can never get back but always wished you could.

Downstairs the doorbell rang its tune and Ryu went to answer it. Opening the front door he was surprised to find three of his uncles standing outside it. "Um, something happen I should know about?" he asked jokingly with a small smile on his face.

"Is your father still here, Ryu?" Sage asked him, there was no humor in his voice as he and the other two men stood outside the door with very stern; almost emotionless expressions on their faces.

"Yeah, I think he's still getting around. Come in you guys," he told them as he held the door open more for them to enter ---Kento, Sage and Cye walked in, dropping their shoes by the door and walked into the front room with Ryu tagging behind them.

Ryo came down the stairs as he still worked to button up his white collard shirt, a look of perplexed astonishment settled over his handsome features as he found three of his best friends in his living room. "Um, hey guys. Don't tell me you're here to check up on me," he said to them with a calm smile, trying to act as if nothing were wrong although he were really drowning inside.

"Nah, more like we came to get you so we can all go do some lookin around for your hot headed daughter, Ryo while the girls are in school," Kento informed him with a huge smile on his face. He was once again dressed in his police uniform, complete with gun and all.

"Oh," Ryo replied, the smile he had plastered on his face to mask how he was really feeling wavered a bit as his shoulders slumped slightly.

"Kento, well we all, figured it might help if we did," Cye added hastily as if he could see the despair in Ryo's eyes.

"That's nice guys but what about my job? How about yours for that matter?" Ryo pointed out to them.

"Don't worry about it. I already talked to Saksai this morning and told her that because of a family emergency you might be out for a while. She's got you all covered," Sage replied to his statement about work.

"I'm a police officer so technically I'm working," Kento added as he looped his thumbs onto the belt on his pants that held his gun and handcuffs.

"And I took the day off," Cye said to finish up the explanations about work. "Rowen would have joined in too but you know how demanding his job is."

"Well, it seems like you all have this whole thing worked out already," Ryo replied with a smirk at the three standing before him.

"Well maybe not everything," Cye spoke up sheepishly as he stole a glance over at the other two men standing next to him. "We're not exactly sure as to where to start looking for her."

"Hm," Ryo said as he pondered over where they could start first. None of them were really sure where any of the new demons would be hiding or where any gates to the dynasty, if they were behind it, would be. After Talpa had been defeated for the last time and they had all given up using the armor for what they had hoped would be forever, they had lost track of those things. The other thing was, they were assuming that whoever had taken Rylea had been of the demon race and not been just a regular human ---they were just automatically assuming it was one.

The soft clank of a staff hitting the floor broke the silence that had fallen over the four as Leinto appeared with them, his weathered face showing that he had spent many hours worrying over something. "I think I could be of some help," he told them all. "I know where you all should start to look."

"Do you now?" Ryo replied, Leinto's lack of sharing information with them when they all needed it and showing them little or no indication that he was even in the slightest bit concerned with the disappearance of his daughter, had left Ryo a little perturbed with the aging charge.

Leinto nodded his graying head in acknowledgement to Ryo's question, taking the hint that the dark haired man was growing angry with him and conceded that he had every right to be. "I'm not exactly sure as to the exact location as to where Rylea is, but I have an idea as to where we should all start our search," he said to all of the young fathers in front of him simply and turned from them to exit the house. "Follow me please."

Kento looked around at the others with a less than amused smirk on his face, "So do we play follow the leader and listen to the old guy?"

Ryo sighed audibly and turned to head back upstairs to his room, "Yeah, let me change and we'll go with him," he shouted back down to the others as he entered his room to change out of his dress clothes for work and into a more casual look for the searching he was going to be doing.

A loud clattering noise disturbed the stillness in the air as a person was flung into trash cans in an alleyway, the sound bouncing off the brick walls of the buildings surrounding them and amplifying the sound. The person, or more like demon, tried to climb back to its feet quickly to get away from his assailant before his attacker could get him again, but failed.

Tadin smirked while watching the demon try to desperately get to its feet. With two quick steps he was looming over top of the crawling thing, grabbing it by the throat and hauling it up in the air before slamming it against the brick wall behind it. The thing kicked its legs that dangled a good three feet off the ground helplessly as fear shot across its face. "Please! Please, I beg of you, spare me!" it whimpered out in the demon dialect.

Tadin smiled on one side of his mouth, his fingers tightening around the thing's throat more. "Where is she? Who took her and where do they have her?" he shouted at it angrily. Earlier that day he had found out from Adian and Sato that someone had already captured and was holding the demon Rylea. Now Tadin had been on a mad dash trying to find out who that person was and where they had her ---so far no one knew anything.

"I-I don't know what you are talking about! What girl?" the struggling demon once again answered in the demon language.

Tadin growled and banged him against the side of the building again, "Don't play dumb with me! Who took Rylea the new hybrid and where have they taken her to?"

The demon gurgled as it fought to keep air coming into its lungs, "Oh, ha ha, that girl. Me didn't know who you were talking about." Tadin's fingers grasped tighter around its neck and it squealed out the information that Tadin needed hastily, "She's at the temple! They took her to the temple!"

Tadin released the demon and it fell to the ground below him, he watched it scurry away as quickly as it could with an angry glare at its back. "The temple, huh," he spoke to himself as he turned from the alley and begun to make his way there. The temple the demon had spoken of was situated deep in the heart of the demon community ---the place that Tadin hated to go, but would head into without a second thought for a demon who he was supposed to have rights over.

Rylea pulled and tugged at the chains that imprisoned her to the wall behind her with all her strength. She growled and howled with outrage when she couldn't get the chains to break loose. Already a day now she had been there, a prisoner for someone who was obviously off his rocker. She'd wasted enough of her time and energy on trying to tug her way loose from the chains and now what she needed to do was come up with a plan. Rylea frowned as she thought over what she could do. _Ok, lets see here. I know they send someone down here three times a day to give me food and someone checks on me at least every hour. Yeah ok, how bout I jus ask one of them nicely to let me go. Yeah, great plan Lea. So glad to see my brain is working._

The dark haired girl smirked at her rambling thoughts. True, they did feed her three times a day but the stubborn girl refused to take food from them. The fact that she hadn't eaten for a day had started to creep up on her now. Already she could feel that her strength wasn't at its normal and that was going to wear her down greatly. "Great, think Lea. What would Dad do if he was in this situation?" she asked her self aloud.

A door creaked loudly above her, signaling that someone was coming to either check on her or give her her meal for the day. _Think fast, come on there has to be somethin I can do to get them to take these chains off me. That's all I'd need to be able to get out of here. _Rylea smirked suddenly as a thought struck her, _What if I were to fake being hurt or something? Then they'd for sure take these things off me to see what was wrong. Yea! Lea you're a genius! _Acting quickly, Rylea closed her eyes and pretended to be passed out, making her body seem limp as the sound of foot steps neared her. As much as she could, she slowed her breathing down to make it look realer.

A, what appeared to be, human with green skin and a lizard's tail walked into the dark chamber that Rylea was held in. The demon became alarmed when he found her dangling form seemingly lifeless. Rushing to her side he quickly undid the chains that were clamped onto her arms and checked her over to see if she were still alive. Without warning her eyes snapped open and her fist went slamming across the thing's face before it could shout for help or put her back in the chains. Rylea then backhand sprung away from the demon as he crumpled to the floor in one massive heap. "Thanks pal," she said to him with a smirk as she ran past his unconscious form and towards the door she hoped would lead her out of the place she had found herself in.

Peeking around the door that lead into the chamber she had been held in, Rylea did a quick sweep of the surroundings to make sure that no one was either guarding or around the area before she went running from the door. Finding no sign of anyone or anything for that matter, the dark haired ninja stealthy and on silent feet took off from the dark chamber she had been held prisoner in and made her way down the corridor she came to ---her eyes were kept alert to any movements in the shadows surrounding her that could give way to a thing hiding within its dark grasp as she continued on her way. Rylea thought it strange that there weren't more demons guarding the area, but brushed it aside as just her stroke of good luck.

Coming to the end of the hallway she had been running down she stopped and flattened herself against the cold wall to peer around the corner, her tiger blue eyes searched the seemingly deserted hallway with uneasiness. For people who had gone to a great expense to capture her they were making it very easy for her to get back out. Brushing her thoughts off the young Wildfire slid around the corner, still pressed against it as if she could blend in with her surroundings ---her eyes still searched the area for any enemies she might come in contact with. Her instincts kept telling her that something was amiss with how there was no one there to stop her and that ninja part of her had her on the edge as she continued down the hallway.

Rylea scanned over the things she found on the walls and above her as she padded down the hall on silent feet. A red runner rug that was trimmed in gold ran down the floor beneath her and paintings or murals hung from the white walls beside her. The dark haired girl stopped to look at one of the murals, her dark eyebrows narrowing into a frown as she looked over the pictures on it. Her tiger blue eyes became wide as she looked over the pictures of fierce, frightening creatures fighting what appeared to be samurai in some ancient battle. Rylea gasped and stepped back from the mural she had been looking at when she recognized what the samurai in the mural were wearing ---they were wearing the Ronin armor.

"Nani...." Rylea gasped out in complete perplexity as she blinked rapidly, still staring at the samurai in the mural and who or what they were fighting. Her eyes came to rest on the person wearing the same red armor that she was destined to bare, taking in what the person was doing with katanas held high in a deadly arch over one of the creatures.

"Impressive work isn't it?"

Rylea snapped back to reality when a deep, male's voice came from beside her. She snapped her head over in the direction the voice had come from and glared at the person she found standing half hidden in the shadows. "What is this thing?" she replied back to the unknown person fiercely, her voice demanding an answer from him whether he wanted to give her one or not.

A chuckle wavered from the man in the shadows as he took a step towards her and out of the darkness. His long silver hair that was held back by a ponytail swished behind him and his stern, almost menacing face stared down at her with an amused smile on his lips. "Demanding aren't we?" he said with an air of mockery in his words. "If you must know, it is said to be a prophecy of the past and battle to come. The Supreme made this mural over a hundred years ago to illustrate the battle between demons, like myself, and the samurai who fight to protect the mortal world."

"Meaning me?" Rylea replied back to him, she recognized the voice of the man as the same guy who had told her of who she was supposedly. She now regarded this man wearily, she didn't trust his sanity at all.

"You no longer are the same person you were destined to be," he said to her while taking a casual step towards her. His fierce eyes looked down at her, staring at her like a wolf would its prey right before it lunges on it.

Rylea eyed him with a frown, her blue eyes setting into a glare at how arrogant he was acting with her. She took a tentative step back away from him, wanting to put as much distance between herself and this maniac while she silently searched for a way away from him, "What do you mean by no longer who I was destined to be?"

The man smiled humorously at her, his smile looking unnatural and almost unnerving ---it was like watching the grim reaper smile. "I've already answered you on that," he replied to her and then added to the confused frown he got from her, "This mural depicts the battle that is soon to come. A fight that will break out between mortals and demons. You and your friends, the new Ronins, were supposed to lead this against us. I've fixed this little problem though."

Rylea took another step away from the menacing man who kept advancing on her slowly and casually with that cruel almost mocking smile on his face. For some reason, when she was around or near this man she felt that presence with in her start to pace and awaken more. It was crawling now, just hiding beneath the surface; waiting to be let out. She needed to get away from this person; away from this place and back to her home where she knew she would be safe. The only problem was, the way out was through him and he didn't look like he was going to move anytime soon to let her just walk by him. The man grinned at her, taking a step towards the almost cowering girl to close the gap between them. "Come now, come with me and I promise that you won't regret it," he told her calmly and extended his right hand out to her, almost expecting her to take his hand.

Rylea leaned away from his hand, repulsed by the idea of having to touch him. This guy was obviously off his rocker and now he wanted her to come with him? "Um, thanks but I think I'll pass on that offer if you don't mind," she said and turned to run back down the corridor she had just come from, thinking that she could find another way out.

Demon guards stood at the entrance to the hall, blocking her way out with swords held up in an aggressive manner. She skidded to stop just before them and back tracked, her plan to get away had just been shot to pieces and there was no other way in or out that she could see. Rylea was trapped in the hall with guards blocking her one way and a psycho guy at the other end. _Just great, now what do I do? _She asked her self helplessly while she stood ridged and ready to fight if she had to. Laughing floated to her ears from the other end of the hall.

"Rylea you don't think ahead of time do you?" the guy asked her, "Did you really think that I would let you go that easily? I don't care whether you want to join me or not, you will."

"Ah, sorry to ruin your plans bud but I'm not going to be joining you and your little crew of uglies any time soon," Rylea shot back at him hotly, her temper was starting to show its head now. This guy had pushed her way past her limit.

The guy shrugged off her words as if they meant nothing to him and shouted to the demons standing in the doorway in the demon language, "Get her!" The demons immediately advanced on Rylea's small form, following out the orders that the higher ranking man had barked at them.

The young ninja was ready for them though and within minutes she had them disarmed and on the ground. Smiling in triumph she turned back to the man who stood behind her, "Is that the best you got?" As if to answer her question more demons surrounded her, taking her off guard this time. She groaned as she looked around at the menacing faces looming over her now, "I just had to ask didn't I?"

The purebred smiled as he looked on at the scene before him, thinking that he had her now. As if to prove him wrong, Tadin appeared through the doorway leading into the hall they all stood in and leapt onto the demons surrounding Rylea ---striking them down one by one with his sword until there were no more. Rylea blinked as she stared at the dingy blond in front of her, this whole thing was starting to become weirder and weirder to her by the minute. "Tadin?" she asked hesitantly, almost afraid that it wasn't him but another trick.

"Come on," Tadin shouted back at her as he grabbed a hold of her wrist and pulled her along behind him. He had to get her out of there before anymore of the guards could show up. Rylea yelped as she was roughly pulled along behind him, trying her best to keep up with his pace.

The silver haired man glared as he watched the young hybrid Tadin lead his prey away from him. So close he had been to taking her, so close to finishing what he had started. So close and yet now it had all been taken away again. His lips curled into a snarl and he screamed in aggravation. "Get them you fools! I want Rylea and that hybrid Tadin back at my feet now!" he bellowed to his minions who quickly ran off to do as they had been told. Seething he turned to leave the hall he was in when something caught his eye. Interested in what it could be, the man bent down and picked up the necklace he had found on the floor. A sinister smile crept to his lips as his eyes looked over the silver pendant he held in his hands. "Looks like I got something out of this after all," he said to himself as he then turned and exited the hall with Rylea's pendant in his hand.

Tadin and Rylea ran as fast as they could away from the temple that had held Rylea prisoner, it was now becoming smaller and smaller in the distance behind them. The dingy blond jerked her into an alley way once they were far enough away and hid behind a dumpster that was there. He covered her mouth with his hand when a few of the demons entered into the alley and made himself and her blend into the shadows that surrounded them as a way to stay hidden from them. Both teens waited anxiously with breath held as they watched them search the alley and then leave as they had come. Once Tadin was sure they were gone he emerged from the shadows with Rylea and looked out at the street before them. "They're gone, you're safe now," he told her before then turning around to face her. He frowned when he found her leaning against the side of a building, breathing hard with face contorted into a mask of pain and anguish. With two quick steps he was at her side, "You ok? Rylea, what's wrong?"

The dark haired girl didn't reply to him as the pain surged through her body. She gritted her teeth together to keep from crying out and waited until it had passed to say anything to him. Tadin kept a concerned eye on her, afraid that something had happened to her while she was there. Rylea took in a few deep breaths and straightened when the pain had passed, "I'm ok," she replied to him with a strained smile.

Tadin didn't seem convinced though, "Sure you are," he replied to her.

Rylea smirked at him cockily, "I am now drop it," she retorted and then a glare replaced her smirk. "Who or what are you exactly and who was that guy?" she shot off questions to him, pointing back in the general direction that they had come from to indicate who she was talking about.

Tadin sighed and turned away from her. She wasn't going to believe him and he really didn't want to tell her what he was. He was ashamed of what he was and what he been trying to do. Rylea glared more at his back and took him roughly by the arm to spin him back around to meet her face, "I asked you a question."

Tadin eyed her for a few minutes, silently taking in her features, almost memorizing them incase he never saw her again after this. With a sigh he gave up and answered her questions. "I'm a demon, a hybrid to be exact and that man who held you captive was Sirous. He's a purebred who will stop at nothing to get you," he told her quietly with down cast eyes.

Rylea stepped back from him quickly as if he had just slapped her and frowned in confusion, "Nani?" she whispered out in disbelief. "So you're one of them?"

"No," he replied sternly and took her squarely by the shoulders to look her directly in the eyes. "I'm not one of them one of them. I'm just a demon who happens to be caught up in their world. I'm nothing like them Rylea, you have to believe me."

Rylea silently eyed him, not sure whether he was telling the truth or lying to her. She wanted to believe him and in a way she did. He had help her escape from them and had been generally concerned about her well being but that all could have just been a front. He could really be on their side and only playing her. Rylea opened her mouth to speak but before she could say a word a hot searing pain racked her body and instead of saying something she wrapped her arms around herself and sucked in air through her clenched teeth. Something wasn't right about what was happening to her and Rylea could feel it. She'd never had this kind of feeling or pain before and now it was coming more and more frequently with more intensity each time. The pain increased to where she was doubling over in anguish from it, her knees gave out and she began to sag to the ground.

Tadin frowned as he grabbed her before she could fall to the ground. He had no idea what was wrong with her and was worried that it might be serious. Thinking quickly he swooped her up into his arms and began to carry her from the alley they stood in. He might not have known what was going on with her, but he hoped that certain other people would. "Hang on Lea, I'm taking you home," he said down to the girl in his arms as he hurried off in the direction that her house was. "I'm getting you to some people who can help you."

With a gasp of pain Rylea's head rolled to the side as she passed out in his arms. Tadin frowned more as he picked up his pace, now more worried then he had been before. He was almost in a panic to get her home now as he flew down the streets of the demon community and headed for the streets of the mortals.

A/N: Ok, sorry that it took me so long to write this but I was kind of at a block as to how I wanted to do it and who and how much I wanted to put in it. I know, I lied and said that the girls were going to be in this but I decided not to put them in here. I did put the guys in here though. :: Ok, next chap I promise I will have the girls in here though (or at least try to have them in it) Special thanks go to Two-Bitgortez, Rogue, BlackBull289, MorganRay and Sifirela. Muchos gracias to all of you.


	15. Chapter 14

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Chapter 14

::July 22::

The sun was setting low now, falling behind the tops of the buildings as it sent brilliant colors of orange and pink streaking across the light blue sky ---a few stars were already starting to hang high in the sky as the four young men and the aging charge made their way back to Ryo's house. Their search had taken them over three hours and still no sign of Rylea or where she could be had been found. Leinto now ambled along side Ryo, using his staff slightly for support as he walked. The charge said little to any of them as he thought silently over what all he had found out. The word that he had gotten from his demon friends in the community was that there was a rumor going around that the Goddess of Night, the bringer of death and despair, was supposed to be awakening on the new moon. This concerned the charge greatly. The only new moon that was coming up was on the twenty-fifth, which also happened to be on Rylea's birthday. Whether she was this goddess they were talking about or not he wasn't sure, but he was definitely certain that she was the new hybrid that everyone was after. That had been made clear to him when she had come up missing.

Who this Goddess of Night was that everyone in the community was so elated to hear that she would be awakening on the new moon, Leinto wanted to know and wanted to know everything he could about it. Obviously she would have had to be of demon blood to have a title such as that and a woman, also, to be a goddess. What troubled him was that Rylea had the demon blood, how she had gotten it Leinto was still puzzled over, and it was true that her powers would be fully awakening on the midnight hour of the twenty-fifth ---but could she be this Goddess of Night that they were talking about? Leinto had to admit that it did seem like the demons were going to the extremes to capture just a regular hybrid, a hybrid that was unaware to the fact that she even held such a power and evil within her. Never in all his years had he heard of them going to this extent for just one person.

True, Rylea wasn't just any regular hybrid. She was the daughter of a Ronin Warrior and soon to be new bearer of the Wildfire armor, but Leinto still had to ask himself why they wanted her so badly. The charge frowned as he mused over things in his mind, trying to sort them out the best he could. Their was a legend or a prophecy that was similar to what was going on now that he had heard of a long time ago but he couldn't remember all of it now ---with time it had faded from his memory. Frown lines creased his forehead the more he thought over his current situation. He should have seen this coming. Should have been able to keep her safe. It was his obligation as her charge and mentor to keep her safe from all dangers, but he had failed in this and allowed her to be taken. Leinto blamed himself for being so negligent as to let her slip through his fingers so easily. The aging charge let his head droop as his shoulders slouched with the feeling of guilt, the feeling of letting her and everyone else down, the more he allowed himself to wallow in self pity.

Kento glanced around uneasily at his friends who walked along side him on their way back to the car they had taken out to the outside limits of the city. The uneasy silence that was settled over them all now was making him tense and he hated the fact that no one was saying anything. Clearing his throat he tried to lighten the mood and get someone to at least talk. "So um, do we try again tomorrow?" he asked out of the blue, trying to start a conversation.

Cye and Sage looked over at the Ronin leader who walked in between them for an answer, when he didn't reply to Kento's question or give any indication that he was going to, they both shrugged lightly for an answer for the ash-blue haired man. Kento glanced at the dark haired man with concern before dropping his eyes back at the ground he walked on as they continued on their way.

Ryo was in his own little world as he walked along with the others. His disappointment at not finding his daughter could plainly be seen on his face. Not even so much as a trace had been found of her and it was all starting to seem hopeless to him. Thoughts that he would never see his daughter again kept running through his mind. Thoughts of never getting to hug her again or tell her he loved her ran rapid amongst his other rambling musings. The more he contemplated that he would never see her again the more depressed he became until he was to the point of almost giving up and loosing faith that they would ever find her. He'd lost Luna, the love of his life and now he had lost Rylea, his only daughter ---or at least he thought he had.

An angry tear slipped down his cheek and he quickly wiped it away before anyone could see it. How could he have let her be taken? How could he have just let her slip right out from under his nose like that? _I should have made her go with me. I knew something was wrong, I had a bad feeling when I left and still I ignored it. Now she's gone and I'll probably never see her again. Rylea I'm so sorry. Sorry that I wasn't a better father to you. _Ryo thought angrily, bitterly and yet with sadness as well, towards himself and his negligence. He blamed no one but his self for what happened to her, big surprise, she was his responsibility after all.

Ryo tried to push his bitter thoughts away from his restless mind as he entered the car along with the others and drove back for his house. He sunk down into his seat and sighed as he watched the sights go by them as they drove through the city and headed for the out skirts where his house was.

Darkness incased the large, stone floored, room that Sirous now stood in. The only light that shined in the dark room was from a fire crackling in the hearth behind the silver haired man. Sirous' back was to the fire, his gray eyes set intently on the mural hanging on the wall in front of him as he studied it with Rylea's pendant grasped tightly in his right hand. Its pictures looked weathered and old, but could still be made out clearly. The red flames behind the man danced and cast eerie shadows against the wall in front of him. "Finally," he pronounced aloud to the silent room. "Finally it will happen. Finally what I've waited for eleven years to happen is going to. Finally it will end and yet all begin. The time of man is coming to an end and soon all immortals and demon alike will rise and take claim over this world that was rightfully ours!" The fire sprang up behind him into a roaring and blazing fire at his words, almost in a silent applaud to his declaration.

Sirous laughed as he touched the mural gently, running his hand against the picture of a woman in black and red ancient goddess clothes in the middle of the fresco. Hundreds of demons knelt off to the side and below the picture of the woman, bowing to her in almost awe and a sense of surrender to her power. Darkness seemed to surround the woman, choking out any kind of life, giving her the feeling of holding an awesome power and death within her. Ancient writing in silver lettering ran along the border of the mural, depicting the prophecy of the Goddess of Night, bringer of death and despair.

Sirous' lips curled into a feral grin as he read aloud the words in the ancient language of the demons before then translating them into the Japanese language. "When the night sky is black and a shadow is cast over the moon, the Goddess shall awake, bringing with her death to all of those who stand in her way," he smiled more as he looked down at what was written below it. "Be wary of the one of both demon and mortal blood for she shall be the one to carry the Goddess within her and reclaim the lands of the mortals for the demons once more."

Sirous turned from the mural then to look at the fireplace behind him. The flames flickered from inside the hearth and reflected in Sirous' now black pupils, giving him an unearthly and unnerving look in his eyes. His shoulders shook as a chuckle started deep within his throat and then increased to an evil laughter that sounded all through the halls of the temple. "It is time Rylea," he chortled out in that insane type voice. "Time for you to awaken to your new destiny!" The fire blazed more as Sirous' laughter rang through out the temple, giving silent hope to all that could hear it. Demons of all different types raised their hands to the sky and gave a cheer of their own to signify that they knew of what was coming.

Whiteblaze's ears twitched at the sounds of approaching footsteps coming up the dirt driveway; now intrigued as to who could be coming up the driveway on foot. His head came up from his lounging position on his paws as a figure, carrying someone, came into his view. Lazily the tiger got up from his lounging position on the wood floor of the porch and stretched before walking down the steps to greet whomever the mystery person was. He sniffed the air and picked up the familiar scent of his mistress Rylea, but didn't know who the other scent he smelled was ---something about this other scent put him on edge though, almost as though he could smell the evil on him.

Coming up closer to the person, he now saw that the figure was a tall, blond, male who was carrying his mistress whom was seemingly unconscious and in pain by the looks of it.

Tadin stopped running once he came upon the large white and black striped tiger who now stood in his path, stopping him from continuing up the driveway and to the house. He regarded the tiger uneasily, ready to leap out of the way if the thing decided to pounce on him. Instead of the tiger doing that though, he padded up to Tadin and nudged at Rylea's arm that dangled from the hold he had her in and whimpered to her in a concerned manner. Watching the tiger's actions, Tadin got the hint that he was friendly and obviously knew and was worried about the girl he carried in his arms. "Hey boy," he said to the tiger cautiously. "Do you know what I should do with her?" He motioned down at the dark haired girl in his arms and Whiteblaze seemed to get what he was saying. The tiger turned from him then and bounded back up the driveway to the porch he had been lying on and pointed at the door with his head to show Tadin where to put her.

Tadin smiled as he followed after the tiger, stopping at the door to look down at him. "Smart tiger, thanks boy," he said to Whiteblaze before carefully switching the weight of Rylea in his arms to try and open the door. Turning the knob finally, he found it locked and growled in aggravation. No one was home, just his luck, and Rylea wasn't getting any better. As if to state him true, Rylea let out a moan in pain and grabbed at her chest as if searching for something.

Tadin glanced down at the girl in his arms helplessly. He didn't know what was wrong with her, much less how to help her. _Damnit all, what am I going to do? No one's here and she's not getting better by the looks of it. Maybe I should-_ His thoughts we interrupted by the sounds of a car coming up the same driveway he had just trekked up. He smirked in how ironic it was that a car would just now be coming up the driveway, just when he needed one too. _Right on time. _He mused with a smirk as he gently but as quickly as he could before the car came into view and spotted him, laid Rylea down on the painted white, wooden swing that hung from the awning over the porch. With one last worried glance at her, Tadin dissolved into a shadow and was gone just as the car pulled up and parked in the gravel driveway in front of the porch.

Two people emerged from the now parked vehicle and headed for the door to the house. Rowen glanced over at his daughter as they both walked up to the two story house, a concerned expression settled over his features at the defeated look on his daughter's face. "Hey," he said gently to her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Rona we're going to find her and she'll be back here before you know it."

"Yeah," she replied with a heavy sigh. "I know that.... It just seems so weird coming here and knowing that Lea's not here. Ya know?" Rowen nodded his head in understanding to his daughter, he understood how she felt all too well.

Silence fell over the two as they walked up the painted white steps and onto the same color porch until Rona let out a startled screech and disrupted the silence. "Dad look!" she shouted as she ran over to her cousin's passed out form. "Dad it's Lea and she looks like she's in real bad shape!"

Rowen hurried over to where his daughter was standing and indeed found his niece, passed out with face contorted into a mask of pain. Immediately he went into his doctor mode and began to check her vitals and everything else he could think of. When he was done he glanced over at his daughter to say, "Get your uncle on the phone now."

Rona nodded her head in acknowledgement to what she had to do before rushing back to the car and grabbing out the cell phone that was there. Dialing her uncle's cell phone number she then waited on the other end for someone to pick up.

A black car screeched to a halt in the drive way to Ryo's house, kicking up a dust cloud around it, as the occupants of the car scurried from it in a hurried fashion ---moving as fast as they could to where Rowen sat with an unconscious Rylea in his arms. Rona looked up at her uncles and charge as they came up to her and her father, watching as her uncle Ryo grabbed her cousin up into his arms as soon as he was standing over her. His face held an overjoyed but yet concerned expression as he furrowed his brows while gently giving his daughter a shake to try and rouse her. "Lea," he said to her. "Lea wake up." No verbal response came from the girl as she sucked in a breath through her tightly clenched teeth and clutched at her chest while squeezing her eyes shut tighter then they already were.

Ryo frowned and his questioning, almost demanding, gaze come up to meet Rowen's already concerned one, "What's wrong with her Rowen?"

"I don't know Ryo, she's been doing that ever since we found her. We need to get her inside though," Rowen replied back to the dark haired man as he stood from his seat on the swing where he had been holding the child that Ryo now held. Ryo nodded to him before walking over to the front door with Rylea still in arms and unlocked the door before then going inside with everyone following behind him.

Rowen followed after the dark haired man into the house with Cye, Sage, Kento and Rona hot on his heels. The charge slowly trailed after them, stopping at the door to glance up at the now almost dark, night sky with a weary frown. _It's already beginning. _He thought with a sigh as he closed the door to the house and walked into the front room to stand with the three adults and Rona who now occupied the room. Rona's head was pointed up the stairs at where her cousin's room was, a faraway look settled over her features as she watched her uncle and father take her cousin up there and disappear into the dark room. Sage, Cye and Kento let out the breath they didn't know they had been holding as they all settled them selves down on different pieces of furniture that was situated in the room, all looking exhausted and drained ---Rona took a seat as well soon after them and the room feel silent once more.

Ryo stared down at his daughter after he had laid the girl down in her bed, Rowen checked over her one last time. The dark haired girl had now ceased in her actions of pain and lay quietly in her bed, peacefully sleeping as far as they both could tell. Rowen stepped back from her and with a sigh glanced over at Ryo, "She's fine now. I don't know what was wrong with her before. There was nothing physically wrong with her that I could see."

Ryo didn't reply back to him. His tiger blue eyes were fixed on his daughter now, almost as if he were afraid that if he took them off her then she'd be gone again. Rylea stirred in her sleep, restlessly rolling her head to the side. "Tadin ...have to get away.... your crazy," she mumbled out incoherently in her sleep.

Both men gave each other a sideways glance at her mumblings, not really understanding what it was she was talking about or why she would even mention Tadin's name. As far as they knew, he was just an ordinary teenage boy who knew the girls ---were they ever far from the truth. Rowen laid a hand on Ryo's shoulder when it became clear to him that Rylea was going to be sleeping soundly for a while, with a jerk of his head he motioned for him to follow him out of the room. Ryo looked apprehensive about leaving his daughter but a little bit of convincing from Rowen persuaded him to leave. Laying a soft kiss on her forehead and glancing one last time at her, he walked out of the room with Rowen and headed downstairs to where the rest of them sat.

Leinto looked up at the stairs as footsteps coming down them jogged him from his half mediating state. The other three men, along with Rona, stood at the entrance of the two from upstairs. "How is she?" Rona asked almost immediately.

"She's fine, actually sleeping soundly right now," Rowen assured his daughter with a gentle smile ---Rona smiled back at him, liking the response she had gotten from him.

A light frown pinched at Sage's features as he thought. As glad as everyone was to see that the youngest of the gang was back safe and sound, they were all missing the big picture ---How had she found her way back safe and sound? "As happy as I am to see that she's back and safe," the blonde started as he gained the others attention. "how did she get back here?"

"I was wondering about that too," Cye added, just as confused, as Sage seemed to be. "Rowen, Rona, was there anyone here when you found her? A note maybe even?"

A shake of the head no came as the answer from the Hashiba's. "No, it was just her and Whiteblaze. There wasn't anyone or anything saying how she got here," Rowen replied to the water Ronin.

"Maybe she got away from whom ever took her and found her own way back here?" Kento suggested with an odd amount of reality, something totally unlike him.

Ryo shrugged lightly at all of their musing and unanswered questions. Although a part of him had been settled with the return of his daughter, another part of him was still not at rest. Whoever had taken her was still out there and that meant that he or she could and probably would be back to take her from him again. This unnerved and put Ryo on the edge. He probably wouldn't be getting very much sleep the next couple of weeks over this.

Leinto stood slowly from his seat, the bones in his knees cracking under the pressure as he moved them. If Rylea had been taken by the demons like he thought she had, and she had, then they would most certainly be back for her. The pains she was having would get worse the closer it got to the midnight hour of the twenty-fifth and would only stop once the sun went down. That's the way it went for hybrids that were coming into their powers. The pains she was having was just the effects of that evil or demonic part of her awakening and was only going to get worse for the poor girl, but nothing could be done to help with her discomfort.

The old charge knew as well as the others that Rylea hadn't just gotten away from her captor and wandered back to her house, there was no way. No, someone must have helped her get back to where she belonged and Leinto had a sinking suspicion he knew who that someone was. "You're going to have to keep a close eye on her," he said to all of them but was more so directing it towards Ryo. "whoever took her will be back to get her."

Kento smirked over at the old charge as he crossed his large arms over his broad chest, "Let me guess. You splittin on us again?"

"I'm not 'splittin' on you as you said, I just have to leave now," he retorted in a very annoyed sounding voice. "I must go and dig up a little information on something. I will be back in the morning." Without even so much as a bow to them this time, he disappeared into a shimmer of air.

Rowen rubbed at the back of his neck as a sigh escaped him, "I think I'd better be going. Come on Rona," he said in a voice just loud enough to be heard by the people standing in the front room. "Ryo, if you need anything or Rylea's condition changes, call me." Ryo gave him a nod at his invitation as the blue haired man and his daughter walked away.

Cye stood shortly after Rowen left and looked at his watch on his wrist, "Its getting late Ryo, I should be getting home now. I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Cye has a point," Sage added as he too stood. "I should be leaving as well."

Kento came into the room from his scavenging in the kitchen, belching loudly to signal his entrance, "Yeah, and now you're out of food so I'm gonna hit the road too."

Ryo smirked up at Kento from his seat in his recliner, "And what part of that is supposed to shock me Kento?"

The large man shrugged his broad shoulders lightly in reply, "None of it I guess."

Cye shook his auburn head in mirth at his friend's behavior, taking him by the arm he began to lead the man out of the house with Sage closely behind them. "I'll see you in the morning, Ryo. Ja Ne," the blond to said to him as he exited the house with the others.

Ryo chuckled lightly at his friends as he heard the sounds of cars starting and then pulling out of the driveway. He rubbed at his face in a tired fashion as he sighed audibly. Whiteblaze lay at his master's feet, silently snoozing but his ears were kept alert to any abnormal sounds. The dark haired man smiled gently down at his faithful tiger and then his eyes were drawn to the room where he knew his daughter was. He still couldn't believe that she was actually up there. Actually back safe and sound in her room. It seemed all too surreal to him and more like some daytime fantasy then the actual reality of his life. Ryo rubbed at his face again as he laid his head back to rest against the back of the chair he sat in. Whiteblaze seemed to have the right idea with the snoozing and right about now sleep seemed like a good thing to him. Sighing, he tried to clear his mind of all his wondering thoughts as he slipped into a half conscious state.

Rylea tossed and turned wildly in her bed, she was now stuck in some horrible nightmare that she couldn't seem to escape no matter how hard she tried. Voices whispered all around her, taunting her almost as hands seemed to reach out from everywhere and grab at anything they could ---her clothes, hair, legs and arms. They seemed to be trying to pull her down, down into their world. She struggled against them, putting up as much a fight as she could but her strength seemed to be leaving her the more she fought. Something about where these hands wanted to take her felt wrong, but yet right in some way and that alone terrified her, she didn't want to go where they were taking her.

Again the hands reached out for her, grabbed a hold of her arms and started to drag her down into the never ending darkness that seemed to incase everything. Rylea screamed and tried to fight them off but she couldn't seem to push them away, it was as if weights were weighing her down or she was in some giant pool and couldn't get her body to work. "Let me go!" she shouted at them as terror seized her and a blinding red light seemed to emit from her chest and surround her completely. Screeching from the light, the hands let go and were drove back into the shadows that surrounded her.

Gasping for air now and feeling weak, Rylea fell to her knees shaking and grasping at her chest were the light seemed to have come from. A light, almost mocking laughter wafted to her ears, seeming to echo all around her. It was a laugh that she recognized, but didn't know why. "Why not just give in? You know you can't fight me for much longer," a very, all too familiar voice asked of her from the shadows.

Rylea's blood ran cold. That voice sounded a lot like hers. The shaggy haired girl forced her head up with whatever strength she could muster and stared at the darkness, not seeing anyone. "Who are you?" Rylea asked hesitantly, not really sure she wanted to find out who the person was.

The mocking laughter came again. "Why Rylea, don't you know who I am?" the voice said again as a form materialized from the shadows in front of Rylea.

Rylea's eyes widened in horror as a girl who looked identical to herself wearing what appeared to be black and red goddess clothes of some type with gold bracelets around her ankles and wrists, stepped out of hiding and in to her view. The girl who now stood in front of Rylea looked like her, but there was something different about her. There was something otherworldly about her looks, malice and yet this deadly beauty all to its own seemed to be etched into her features. Not only that but she held an evil aura about her that seemed to surround and choke out everything else. The Rylea look alike smiled down at the gawking girl, "I'm you Rylea. At least I'm the person you could become if you'd just let go and stop fighting me," she purred out to her in a sultry, seductive voice that was almost hypnotizing to a certain degree.

Rylea narrowed her vivid blue eyes at her twin, already getting a bad feeling about who this person was. "Just what the hell are you babbling about?" she demanded of the person.

The goddess look alike smiled more as a sweet chuckle escaped from her lips and knelt in front of her twin, "I represent the power growling in side you. I'm the hybrid you could become if you'd stop fighting your urges for power and let me go."

Rylea eyed the look alike wearily, "So you're evil?"

"There's a fine line between good and evil, Rylea. People who think they're doing the good thing can really end up doing the wrong thing in the end which would lead to more evil," she reasoned in that persuasive, hypnotic voice as an evil smirk formed on her pouty lips. "You have a chance to become something more than just a hybrid, Rylea. You've got powers and abilities demons could only wish for!" the look alike continued on.

"Why does everyone keep telling me that?"

The look alike smirked in nothing short of amusement as she stated pretty plainly, "Because you are. Even as we speak I'm starting to awake and slowly take control. Pretty soon I will be in total control and ruling the demon and mortal world like I should be."

"Nani?!" Rylea shouted at the girl's declaration.

"As soon as the clock strikes midnight on the night of the twenty-fourth, you will no longer be little Rylea of Wildfire," the girl stated to her sweetly as she ran her index nail all the way from Rylea's temple down to her jaw. "but Rylea, Goddess of Night. The strongest hybrid alive."

"No," Rylea growled out as she shook her head and her wild dark hair swung around her face. "I won't let you!"

The Rylea look alike laughed coldly at her pointless declaration before a smile spread across her face. Running her tongue along her top teeth she replied in that sultry, hypnotizing voice, "Dear child, you can't stop me. I am you. You will turn and everyone you love will die by your hand, you will kill them. There is nothing you can do to stop it."

"No," Rylea whispered out helplessly, fear creeping to her voice now.

"I've waited a very long time for this day and now I can taste it. I can taste the sweet victory that will soon be mine, ha, ha, ha, ha," she replied and the evil, mocking, but yet sweet laughter of hers rang throughout the darkness incased area.

"I won't let you! You hear me, I wont!" Rylea shouted at her twin, but now she wasn't so sure of herself.

The girl leveled her china blue eyes into an icy glare at her, "You don't have a choice in the matter. You will fall," she stated to Rylea before her hands came up and shoved the dark haired girl backwards into the never ending darkness. Rylea felt herself start to fall and panicked, terror already griping her as she blindly reached out for something to grab onto and found nothing. "Goodbye, Rylea of Wildfire," her demonic twin proclaimed happily as she watched Rylea fall through the darkness with a satisfied smile plastered across her face.

****

::July 23::

Rylea awoke from her nightmare with a startled jolt and found herself flung half off her bed with her back resting against the wooden floor. Breathing heavily, she righted herself to sit up on her bed with her legs dangling over the edge. Feeling something wet and cold press against her arm, she looked down to see Whiteblaze's chocolate brown eyes gazing back up at her with a concerned expression. Rylea smiled softly down at the tiger and scratched him behind the ears. "I'm ok blaze," she told the tiger quietly who seemed to believe her.

Rylea sighed then and looked over at her window, it was almost pitch black outside, only one stream of moonlight provided the light that flooded into her room. Sliding from her bed, she silently padded over to it and sat down at her window seat. Drawing her knees up close to her chest, she stared out at the night sky and at the sliver of moon that hung there. A small part of her felt excited that the moon would be gone soon, sending the night sky into total darkness. Rylea shivered with the thought of her dream she'd had and held herself tighter. _I have to get as far away from everyone as possible. If I don't I'll end up killing them. _She told herself, even though a part of her didn't want to leave but knew that she had to for the safety of her family.

Whiteblaze, sensing something was bothering his young mistress, padded over to lay at her feet. He rested his head on his paws and stayed there, silently glancing up every once in a while at his mistress who quietly sat staring out at the night sky.

Ryo laid in his bed, his arms folded behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling of his room. Sleep didn't want to come for Ryo for some reason tonight. Maybe it was because he had too much occupying his mind to settle it. Sighing and giving up on sleep for the moment, he got up from his bed to grab the t-shirt he'd discarded earlier before climbing into his bed and put it on. He couldn't sleep and thought maybe checking on his daughter would ease his mind in some way.

Stepping from his room he walked down the hall towards her bedroom where he hoped she would still be. Opening the door to his daughter's room, his heart stopped when he found her bed empty. Panicking he looked around her room and his eyes came upon the hunched form by her window. Saying a silent 'thank god' Ryo willed his heart to beat again as he walked over to her. Whiteblaze looked up when his ears picked up the sounds of feet and then put his head back down when he saw who it was.

The closer Ryo got to Rylea the more he got the feeling that something was amiss by the way she was sitting on her window seat, knees drawn to her chest, seemingly staring off at nothing. When he was within reaching distance of her, Ryo laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and was startled when she jumped in return. "You ok?" he asked her quietly, a frown starting to crease at his forehead.

Rylea just turned away from him once she recognized who it was to stare back out at the night without saying a word to him. Ryo sat down in front of her, his eyes asked for an explanation but Rylea just ignored him as she pulled her knees tighter against her chest. "Lea, what's wrong?" he asked and reached out to brush her bangs from her face, but Rylea just flinched away from his touch.

Ryo frowned more at her actions, she'd never flinched away from him before. He stared at her, his eyes searching her face for some kind of answer as to what was going through her head but found none. _Oh God, what if they did something to her? _He thought suddenly."Lea, did something happen to you while you were gone?" he asked her softly but his voice demanded an answer.

Rylea remained quiet, refusing to meet his gaze. Ryo narrowed his eyes at her and laid his hand on her shoulder, which she shrugged off. "Answer me Rylea Marie. I swear if they laid one filthy hand on you I'll fry those bastards."

Rylea didn't look at him as she smiled inwardly at his comment, "No, they didn't touch me. Not the way you're thinking anyway."

"Then what's wrong, koibito?" Ryo asked in his soft voice again, his eyes gave away how concerned he was about her.

Rylea rested her chin on the top of her knees while keeping her eyes pointed anywhere but on him, she really didn't want to tell him what was going on ---she didn't think he'd understand. Ryo sighed and caught her chin in his hand, finally tired of her non communication and brought her face up to look at him. His tiger blue eyes bore into her own mirror image of his own. "Tell me what's bothering you, jouchan," he told her, his voice took on that commanding tone again.

Rylea was quiet while her eyes held her father's. Glimpses of her nightmare flashed before her mind's eye and she couldn't stop it. _You will be the one to kill everyone you love, _Came floating across her mind as clear as if she had said it herself. Tears threatened to spill over her eyelashes and she had to blink them away. Ryo saw this and his gaze lightened, her tears confused him. "Rylea? Koibito what is wrong?" he asked her softly, trying to coax whatever was bothering her out.

Rylea sniffed and blinked back more tears, but it was no use. She had to choke back a sob as the tears she didn't want to cry fell down her face. "Daddy," Rylea choked out barely above a whisper and let go of her legs to climb into his lap, hiding her face against his chest as she burst into tears.

Ryo was taken back by her actions. He didn't really quite grasp what had her so upset. Doing what he could to try and calm his upset daughter he held her tight while rubbing the small of her back soothingly. "Lea it's ok. I'm here baby, I'm here. It's going to be ok," he tried to comfort her but nothing he said seemed to console her.

"I won't do it," she sobbed out, "she's wrong! I won't!"

Ryo looked down at her with one of his dark eyebrows lifted in complete confusion, "Won't do what? Who's wrong Lea?"

"I can't," she whispered and clutched onto her father's shirt. "I can't do it. There's just no way!"

Ryo was becoming a little more than baffled by his daughter's rambling and couldn't make heads or tails out of it, "Lea you're not making any sense sweetie. What are you talking about?"

Rylea sat back so she could look up at her father's face and Ryo felt his heart wrench at how miserable and tormented she looked. "I had a nightmare, I think it was a nightmare, and this girl who looked like me and even said she was me told me that I was going to turn into some demon and kill everyone I love!" she gushed out while tears fell from her vivid blue eyes.

Ryo frowned and gently brushed away the tears on her face, "Lea, it was just a dream. It doesn't mean its going to happen."

"No," Rylea replied, shaking her head stubbornly. "I don't think so. It felt too real."

"Rylea," Ryo said sternly and took her firmly by the shoulders. "it was a dream sweetie. A dream and nothing more. You've been through a lot, that's why it feels real."

Rylea chewed on her bottom lip as she thought over what her father had said to her, she wasn't convinced that it had been a dream. What she had seen had felt so real and it had terrified her. Ryo saw the unconvinced look on her face and brought her back into his embrace, hugging her tightly as if to reassure his daughter. "It was just a dream. It was all just a bad dream that's over now," he repeated to her again.

Rylea snuggled into her father's hug. She didn't believe it was just a dream, something about it had seemed too real. The dark haired girl closed her eyes and breathed in her father's after shave, the smell comforting her like it always had. She tried to relax the best she could, wanting to stay in her father's secure arms for as long as possible ---Rylea wasn't sure she'd ever be able to again.

__

A/N: Ok once again I'm very sorry that it took me so long to get this chap done and up, but I've been dealing with writer's block pretty bad. I'm hoping that the last few chaps to this will go a little faster then this one did. Anyway, special thanks to Sifirela, MorganRay, Two-BitGortez, BB289 and Rogue. Every review I get makes me feel special as a writer and I thank you all very much.


	16. Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

::July 23::

The bright orange sun hung half way up in the clear blue sky, already showing promise to another scorcher of a day even that early in the morning. Bright rays of the sun outside shone through the glass windows of the house and lit up the room as the charge, Leinto, appeared out of thin air. The aging man searched the room for the owners of the house; his weathered face displayed the look of too many stressful nights spent worrying and pondering over something. Wondering if they could possibly still be asleep, the charge took a few tentative steps towards the stairs that lead to the upstairs where their rooms were, but stopped when foot steps coming from the kitchen came to his ears.

Ryu came walking into the front room, cradling a coffee cup in his right hand. The young man's brown eyebrows lifted at the sight of the aging charge before he twisted his head back in the direction of the kitchen and shouted, "Hey Dad, you've got company."

The dark haired man Ryu had shouted to appeared behind his son almost instantly saying, "Company? Rye what are you talking a-," he stopped when his eyes came to rest on the same aging charge as his son's had and finished with, "Bout."

Leinto sighed, his patients today was thin and he had very important things he had to tell everyone and do before his time to do so ran out. "Please, listen closely," he started and then took a deep breath to steady himself again. "We have a problem. A very big problem."

"Problem?" Ryo repeated as the beginnings of a frown started to crease his forehead, already getting the feeling that he wasn't going to like what Leinto had to say. "What kind of a problem, Leinto."

"I will explain everything to you later," he told him in a rush. "First you must tell me where Rylea is."

Confusion crossed Ryo's face as he pointed a finger up in the direction of her room and replied, "She's still in bed."

Leinto didn't wait for the dark haired man's permission as he started up the stairs for Rylea's room. Already he was beginning to get a bad feeling. Ryo stole a glance over at his son before he followed after the older man up the stairs. "Leinto just what do you think you're doing?" he asked the charge as they both stopped outside the door to her room.

"Would you please," Leinto said back and gestured to the door he needed opened with his staff.

Ryo's tiger blue eyes stared at the aging charge for a moment before he sighed in compliance to his request and opened his daughter's door for the old man. "I don't know what you're up to Leinto, but I told you Lea's still sleeping," he told him as the door swung open to reveal a bed with a red comforter and a sleeping occupant.

Leinto looked into the room to find indeed what appeared to be a sleeping form under the blankets, but something about it didn't set right with him. Needing to be reassured that Rylea was in fact sleeping in the bed, he turned to the dark haired man who now leaned against the doorframe with arms crossed. "Could you please wake her up?" he asked him and at the raised eyebrow he got in return added, "Just so that I know it is her."

Ryo let out an agitated sigh at the charge's request but did as he had been asked to do. Leinto watched as Ryo walked past him and to the bed where he hoped she still slept. "Come on Lea, get up sleepy head," Ryo spoke to the form under the covers as he walked to the bed. Leinto narrowed his gray eyes at the lump under the comforter, something didn't seem right to him but he couldn't but his finger on what it was. "Rylea? Come on get up," Ryo continued as he pulled back the covers.

Both men were shocked to find a napping Whiteblaze beneath the red covers of Rylea's bed instead of the shaggy, dark haired girl they were supposed to find there. The tiger yawned big, stretched his large legs with claws extended and looked between the two men as if nothing were wrong. The looks on their faces confused the white tiger.

Ryo glanced over at Leinto and his confused expression matched that of the old man's. "Maybe she got up early or something and this is her idea of a joke," he reasoned while exiting from his daughter's room with Leinto behind him.

The old man followed after Ryo, back down the stairs and into the living room. Leinto knew that wasn't the case, he'd had a feeling this might happen and sure enough it had. This was the thing that wasn't settling right with him, the thing that had him thinking that something was amiss. "Rye," Ryo spoke as he walked over to where his son sat in front of the tv, sipping at his coffee. "Have you seen your sister this morning?"

Ryu looked up at his father and a half mocking smile slipped across his face at his question. "What? You guys lose her already?" he replied back with sarcasm and mockery. "Now lets see, its only been about what..... Not even twenty-four hours?"

"Cut the sarcasm, it's yes or no," Ryo retorted back, really not in the mood to play twenty questions with his son or listen to his sarcastic remarks.

"No," Ryu replied and then went back to the tv in front of him.

Ryo sighed as he left the front room to look out the back door to the back yard, hoping that maybe she had decided to do some early morning training ---not finding his daughter there he came back into the front room. "Where could she be?" he pondered aloud to himself as Whiteblaze padded down the stairs.

Leinto glanced over at the over grown house cat briefly, but did a double take when he noticed something in the feline's mouth. "Ryo," the old man said to gain his attention and pointed at the tiger that had now stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

Ryo glanced over at Leinto and then followed his pointing finger to his pet, noticing too what appeared to be a note in the tiger's mouth. Taking the piece of paper from Whiteblaze, he looked it over and indeed found it to be just that, a note. Frown lines creased at his forehead as Ryo read over the note.

__

Dad-

I'm really sorry that I had to leave like this and with out even saying good bye, but I had too. I know you told me that the nightmare wasn't real and didn't mean anything but I can't seem to stop thinking that maybe it was and did mean something ---it was all just too real to be a figment of my over active imagination. Me staying with you guys will only end up hurting you all in the end and I can't stay and take the chance in that happening.

Please try and understand why I'm doing this. Its not to hurt you or make you worry about me or even to get back at you for something and its not your fault at all so don't try and say it is like you always do! I just don't want to end up being the reason for any of your deaths and if I stay I'm afraid ---I'm afraid that that's exactly what will happen. Something is happening to me. Something not_ good is happening to me and it's dangerous for any of you to be around me. I know exactly what you would have said to all of this, Dad, if I had told you in person and that's why it's in this note instead._

Please don't try to find me, I'll be ok on my own. You don't have to worry about me, I'm a big girl now and I think I can handle my self just fine ---I am a Lady Ronin after all. Tell Rye I love him even though he's a selfish, self centered, retard and pet Whiteblaze for me. Hopefully when whatever's happening to me is over I'll come back. Promise.

Love ya Dad,

Jouchan

-P.s. I took some money from you, not a lot, but enough.

Hope you won't mind.... Too much. Ja Ne.-

Terror seized Ryo as he finished reading the note and then read over it again as if searching for something in it that would give away that it was all just a big joke. Not finding what he was looking for, Ryo then looked up at the others ---his face had gone pale, and fear now griped his features. She was gone? Rylea was gone again? No, Ryo wouldn't and couldn't believe that. There had to be some kind of a mistake. This had to be just one of her jokes and any minute now she'd jump out from where ever she had been hiding and shout 'Got cha!' with a bright smile on her face and everything would be ok. _This isn't happening. Lea can't be gone..... She just can't! I just got her back.... She can't be gone again. _Ryo told himself but knew that she was and that this wasn't some kind of a joke. This was getting to be too much for him. He couldn't take much more of this before he began to rip his hair out or pass out from all the stress.

Leinto frowned at the expression on the young man's face as he took the piece of paper from his hand and scanned over it himself. His face dropped and even more worry seemed to twist and contort his features. _Nightmare? Is she already having nightmares?_ "Things just got worse," he said quietly, his voice sounded hopeless and heavy with guilt.

"What was it that you had to tell me? What was the big problem that was so important that you made me make sure Lea was still in her room?" Ryo turned on the older man, throwing question after question at him as his temper started to rise.

The old man sighed heavily. He had to tell them, he had to tell Ryo especially about what he had found out and what he knew to be true about the youngest of the group. Ryo being her father deserved the right to know. "Please," he began as calmly as he could. "I would rather tell all of you at once then have to tell you all separately."

"Fine," Ryo fired back as he went to pick up his cordless phone. "Let's just call up the guys and get them and the girls too I'm guessing, over here."

Leinto said nothing more to the dark haired man as he watched him dial numbers and say a few things to the people on the other line before hanging the phone back up. The charge was preoccupied with how he was going to tell them and find Rylea before tomorrow at midnight.

Shortly after Ryo had finished making his calls to everyone then cars began to appear in the driveway as the occupants of them filed into the house and took seats in the living room ---all looking confused and some even worried as to why they had been summoned on such short notice to Ryo's house. Once everyone had settled and found a place to sit, girls on one side of the living room with the fathers on the other, then Leinto stood in the middle of the room and addressed them all.

Clearing his throat Leinto started, "We all have a very big and potentially deadly problem on our hands."

"I'll say we do," Kento added from his seat on the couch and was promptly shushed by everyone else.

Ignoring Kento's comment he went on, "There is something that you all need to know about Rylea. This is something that she her self doesn't even know about." He focused his gray eyes on Ryo and continued on, "Rylea is a hybrid and a very dangerous one at that."

Ryo's eyebrows furrowed into a slant at his words and his tiger blue eyes bore into Leinto's gray ones, "Hybrid? What the hell is that?"

Leinto sighed as if explaining to them what she was made it worse in some way, "A hybrid is a human that is half demon. Rylea is half demon."

"Demon? Half demon?! You're telling me that my daughter is some kind of a demon?!" Ryo raged angrily at Leinto as Rowen and Sage both took a hold of his arms to keep him seated incase he decided to lunge at the old man.

"Ryo! Calm down man," Sage said to him, hoping that Ryo would.

"Please-" Leinto started and was immediately cut off.

"How can Lea be a demon or a half demon at that?" Rona spoke up for the girls who had remained quiet up til then, confusion had settled across her gentle features.

"I'm not totally-"

"Where is Lea anyway?" Keish asked, cutting Leinto off mid sentence.

Leinto sighed and closed his eyes to regain his composure before he ended up going off on all of them. "I'm not sure where Rylea is and where she is, is only half our problems," he stated to them all. "There is something else that I found out that may actually pertain to Rylea and her being half demon."

Ryo shook off Rowen and Sage's holds on his arms and set a very annoyed and yet angry glare on the old man, "I'm listening."

"Good because you need to hear this," he said to him and then took a deep breath before he went on. "There is also a special demon called the Goddess of Night, who will be awakening on the midnight hour of the twenty-fifth. Now, the thing that disturbs me is that Rylea's demon powers will also be fully awakening on that same day and one of the things stated in the prophecy to the Goddess of Night is that ---is that whoever holds the blood of both worlds, meaning a hybrid, will be the one to awaken the Goddess. Now whether Rylea is this one to awaken the Goddess or not or if its just one big coincidence, I'm not sure yet. The only thing I know for sure is that she is a hybrid and must be found before the midnight hour of the twenty-fifth."

Silence followed the end of Leinto's speech as everyone digested and thought over what he had explained to them. The thought that one of their own, a Lady Ronin, was a demon and potentially an enemy to them all, was mind boggling to them. How could someone who was a Lady Ronin, a bearer of the Wildfire armor, be half of something that they were supposed to destroy? Something that was an enemy to them all? Was Rylea going to end up becoming an enemy to them?

Breaking the silence that had settled over them, Leinto then turned his attention on to Rona who had her gaze pointed at the floor, deep in thought. "Rona," he said to gain her attention and continued on once her purple-blue gaze had been brought up to rest upon him. "I know you saw something pertaining to Rylea about a week ago. It was a premonition and I need you to tell me exactly what you had seen."

Rona's face took on a blank look as she searched her brain for the answer to what Leinto had asked her. She had seen something in her mind when her cousin had touched her, almost about a week ago at a training session and was going to tell him about it but had forgotten to. How he knew about it she didn't know. She glanced nervously over to her friends, silently asking them what she should do.

"Tell him what you told us Rons," Kami quietly encouraged her friend from beside her where she sat on the couch.

"Yeah, it might actually be something that he needs to know," Heather added, nervously tucking her golden blonde hair behind her ear.

Rona took a deep breath before turning her gaze back up to the aging man who stood patiently waiting to hear what she had seen. "Now I could be getting this all wrong. I'm not even sure if I interpreted what I saw the right way but," she stopped while the memory of what she had seen came back to her with the same clarity and reality as the first time. "I saw Lea fighting us, only..... She didn't seem like the Lea we all know. The Lea I saw almost looked other worldly and seemed to be enjoying the fact that she was fighting us, all of us including our Dads, and winning."

Leinto took in a deep breath as all eyes turned on him as if he were supposed to clarify for them what Rona had said. Rona's gift was future sight, no doubt in that, which meant that what she had seen was real and a glimpse of the future. He didn't like what she had seen. Rona had seen a glimpse of Rylea turning demoness on them and following her demon urges by trying to kill them. An uncomfortable silence fell once again over them before Leinto spoke up in his soft, but commanding voice. "We need to find her before what Rona saw comes true," he said as every either gave a small nod to what he said or gave each other worried glances.

Rylea walked down the sidewalk on her way to the only place she thought she could go to get away from everyone. The only place that she thought she could go and no one would think of to find her. Some of the people who passed her stared at her as if she had grown a horn or sprouted wings and steered clear of her at all costs. Their actions confused Rylea; she really couldn't understand why they were avoiding her like that. She didn't think anyone in this part of the town even knew who she was.

Rounding the corner she came upon the same old, almost abandoned looking penthouse that Tadin had taken her to before. She smiled and sped her walking up, almost jogging towards the penthouse. A wave of pain surged through her body unexpectedly and she had to stop and grab onto whatever she could to keep herself from falling flat on her face. Rylea gripped onto the street light as tightly as she could as the pain intensified more and bit her lip to keep the scream that she felt rising up her throat from coming out.

More and more frequently the sudden waves of pain had been coming and going and Rylea didn't know why. The pain stopped, like it always did, a few minutes later and after catching her breath, Rylea continued on her way to the penthouse that sat closer in her view.

Getting to the door that led into the old and seemingly abandoned penthouse, the dark haired girl knocked and then waited patiently outside for someone to answer it. Not long after she knocked then the door was opened and a man with forest green hair and amber eyes stood before her. The man stared at her a minute, his eyes taking in her features before a sly grin spread across his face. "So its you," he said to her as a coy grin spread across his lips. "Wow, you really are something."

Rylea eyed the man in front of her with a glare as she wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't like the way he was looking at her. "Um, is Tadin here?" she asked him and her voice gave away that she was becoming annoyed with him.

The man smiled at her before twisting his head around to yell back inside, "Hey Tadin, that girl's here."

Rylea eyed the man curiously now, she could've sworn he had seemed to take on a different look there for a minute ---an otherworldly look. Tadin appeared at the door almost instantly, pushing the other man away and back inside. "Rylea?" he asked as if not sure it was really her.

"Yeah," she replied, coming out of her stupor to look at him with an uneasy smile. "Can I come in?"

The dingy blonde seemed to look hesitant for a minute but stood aside and allowed her in anyway, "Sure," he said and watched as she walked past him and into the penthouse. Closing the door, he followed after her into the living room. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but.... What are you doing here?"

Rylea turned around to face him, nervously biting at her lower lip. "Tadin," she started and immediately he got the feeling that he wasn't going to like what she said next. "Something is happening to me and you are the only person I can think of to turn to right now."

Tadin went quiet. He knew all too well what was happening to her. "What about your Dad? Your family?" he brought up.

"Well I kinda," she started and then looked away from his gaze. "I kinda ran away."

"You what?!" Tadin roared at her in disbelief and then reclaimed his temper as quickly as he could. "Why?"

"Because I can't be around them right now. Staying with them would have just put them in danger and I can't do that," Rylea said back in her own defense and then winced and closed her eyes against the sharp pain that ran through her. The pains were coming more and more often now.

"Rylea?" the dingy blonde said as he reached out concernedly to touch her but the shaggy, dark haired girl just pulled away from his touch.

"Look," she said once the pain had gone and flipped her wild bangs out of her face so she could look at him again. "You're the only person I can turn to right now. I need a place to lay low for a while and I thought this would be the best place."

Tadin felt a sting of pain at how desperate and pleading her eyes looked at him, begging him to allow her to stay. He sighed, knowing that he couldn't resist her and would end up letting her stay with him ---even if it was the worst thing he could do for her. "I don't think you staying here with me would be a good idea Lea," he told her but his voice didn't sound as confident or as convincing as it had before.

"Why not?" she replied with a raised eyebrow at him, she felt like he was hiding something from her now. "I know you really do, Tadin, so why not just let me?"

Tadin rubbed at the back of his neck nervously as he tried to keep his eyes averted from her. As sternly as he could he retorted, "Look, you just can't. Even if I would want you to stay here you couldn't. It's not safe for you to stay here with me."

Rylea's tiger blue eyes searched his face curiously. He wouldn't look at her now and she couldn't understand why. "Why not?" she asked back and then her tiger blue eyes narrowed suspiciously at him as she folded her arms over her chest, "What aren't you telling me Tadin?"

The dingy blonde brought his eyes back over to look back into Rylea's own eyes. The same eyes he had found himself beginning to become lost in the first day he had met her at Han a' High. Now those eyes looked suspiciously at him. He opened his mouth to speak to her, but was cut off by another's, deep voice from behind him. "Yes, what is it that you are keeping from her Tadin?" the mystery person said.

Rylea growled threateningly as she unfolded her arms and took a step back, glaring dangerously at the person who had just appeared behind Tadin. The dingy blonde turned around to see whom Rylea was glaring at and came face to face with the last person he wanted to see at that moment. "Sirous," he growled out as if his name alone disgusted him.

Sirous smiled his slow, evil smile at the dingy blonde who had said his name and then stole a glance over at the glaring girl behind him. "So nice to see you again, Rylea," he replied to her in a mocking voice.

Rylea smirked arrogantly back at him, "Pleasures all mine."

Tadin took a protective step in front of Rylea, shielding her from Sirous as he laid cold blue eyes on the silver haired man in front of him. "What do you want, Sirous?" he demanded from the man who held rank over him.

Sirous just gave him a sly grin back as he replied, "Why Tadin you of all people should know. Especially since you're the person I sent to round her up for me."

Rylea glanced up at Tadin whose back was turned to her; anger had been replaced with confusion now and was laced over her features. "What is he talking about?" she asked, not really sure that she wanted to hear the answer that she may get from him.

Sirous blinked as if he was surprised to know that Tadin hadn't told her anything, "What? You don't know Rylea? He didn't tell you?"

"Know what?" the dark haired ninja demanded as her confused gaze bounced from Tadin to Sirous, asking for an answer as her patience with them began to run thin. "Why is everyone talking in riddles today?! Can't anyone just speak plain Japanese for once?!"

"My, my, what a temper you have Rylea," Sirous mocked with a crooked grin. "Did you really think you could have handled her Tadin?"

Tadin glared threateningly at the purebred now, "Shut up, Sirous," he growled out at him as a response.

Sirous smirked at him humorously, as if finding his sudden anger towards him funny. "What's the matter? Don't want her to know the truth?" he asked with an acid sweetness.

"Sirous I'm warning you," he replied back in a low and deadly tone.

Rylea looked between the two demons in complete confusion. She didn't know what they were talking about or what Sirous kept hinting at but wouldn't come right out and say, but knew enough to know that whatever it was, Tadin didn't want him to say it. Finally becoming fed up with being kept in the dark she decided to do something about it. "Tadin what is he talking about?" she asked again and this time her voice demanded an answer whether he wanted to give her one or not.

"Nothing, he's babbling about nothing. Just ignore him," he replied back without taking his eyes off of Sirous.

Sirous slyly grinned at Tadin, "Now Tadin you know that's not true," he said and then looked directly at Rylea from over Tadin's shoulder. "Tadin's been lying to you this whole time. You see, I sent Tadin to find you and then turn you to our side."

Rylea's china blue eyes went wide and she blinked several times with the information that Sirous had just told her before they then narrowed into a glare at Tadin's back. "Is that true? Is what he says true?" she asked him, trying her best to keep the anger from her voice.

Tadin sighed as he turned around to face her but his eyes immediately feel to the floor, he couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes. "Yes," he finally whispered out after a few minutes of silence.

Totally thrown for a loop by what he had said, Rylea just stared at him in stunned disbelief. She couldn't believe or didn't want to believe that the person she had trusted could have really been against her the whole time. Had really been out to bring about her demise rather then help her. Confusion and betrayal settled across her face as she stared up at the blonde who she once had considered to be a friend. Her bright blue eyes begged him to say that it wasn't so and yet asked him why all at the same time.

Sirous chuckled lightly at the sight before him, loving every minute of it. "Oh how I love this," he said aloud and the cheerfulness in his voice made Rylea's blood boil. "He was sent to gain your trust, make you believe he was your friend and then crush you. All just for the glory it would bring him."

"No," Tadin protested to what Sirous was saying as he brought his eyes back up, finally getting the courage to look her in the eyes. "It's not how he says it is."

"You lied to me," Rylea stated to him and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I trusted you and you lied to me!"

"Lea," Tadin said and took her by the shoulders gently as he stared into her eyes. "It's not like how he says it is. I mean, at first maybe but then I got to know you and everything changed, I swear!"

Rylea knocked his hands from her shoulders and took one step back from him all in one fluid motion as the livid glare she held was kept pointed straight on his pleading face. "You lied to me! You made me think you were my friend! Made me believe you cared about me and all just so that you could claim glory for getting me?!" she yelled at him in outrage.

"No Lea, that's not true! I never lied to you. I do care about you, you have to believe me," Tadin tried to persuade her, but knew that he was getting no where with her.

"How could you?" she whispered in disbelief as her eyes gave away how betrayed, sad and angry she felt all at the same time. "How could you lie to my face? How could you tell me that you weren't like them when all along you were doing just what they all do? How could you pretend to care about my well being when you really didn't?"

Tadin went silent after her last statement. He had no justifications or answers for his behavior. He had at one time been trying to bring about her demise but he was telling the truth about one thing ---everything had changed once he had gotten to know her. Once he had really gotten to know who the real Rylea Sanada was. His feeling about what he was supposed to do, even his feelings for her had changed all in that short amount of time. Now Tadin wanted nothing more than to gather her up in his arms and tell her that he cared about her. Tell her how sorry he was for the things he had started out doing. Beg her for forgiveness. He wanted to take away her pain and sorrow, but knew that she'd never trust or believe him again and he really couldn't blame her.

Sirous smiled in triumphant at what was going on. He'd come to make Tadin look like the bad guy and had succeeded in doing so. "He's a hybrid, its his nature and soon to be yours too Rylea," he proclaimed as if it were something to be proud of.

Rylea turned bright, but yet still glaring eyes on Sirous. She really did hate him with every fiber of her being. "What do you mean?" she snapped at him irritably, her temper was very close to exploding now.

"I mean," the silver haired demon replied as he took one easy step towards her. "Very soon you will be a hybrid just like him. Or maybe.... You'll be an even better one."

Rylea eyed him cautiously as she took one slow tentative step back from him. "You're crazy! Ya know that?" she sneered at him. "I mean I thought I knew some pretty looney people, but you just take the cake bud."

"Oh no," he said with a smile and took another easy step closer to her. "I'm not, I can assure you of that."

Rylea scanned for a way out of the trapped situation she had found herself in. She felt like a trapped animal a hunter had cornered and was waiting for the killing blow. She wasn't going to be that trapped animal though. Rylea knew she needed to get as far away from both of them as possible and get away from them she would. Her eyes spotted the door that was a few feet from her. The only thing that was standing between her and the door was Sirous. She smirked when she remembered her new little 'power' that she had and an idea struck her.

The dark haired girl stopped backing up from the still approaching silver haired, purebred and smirked at him. "Tell me something Sirous. Do you like fire?" she asked while she grasped her fire pendant that still hung from her neck. Her eyes ignited with an inner fire before a burst of flames shot up from the floor in front of her enemy. Taking the purebred off guard, Rylea took her chance and ran for the door ---getting out and running for her life.

"Damnit!" Sirous shouted as he came out of his stupor and took off after his prey.

"Sirous!" Tadin yelled after the purebred as he quickly grabbed his sword from his room and took off after the silver haired man and the dark haired girl. Even if she hated his guts he couldn't allow Sirous to get her.

Rylea ran down the street, not really knowing where she was going but knew that she had to just keep running and get as far away from Sirous and Tadin as possible. _How could he? _She thought angrily while running down the street. _Stupid, how could you have believed him? How could you have trusted him? Nice going Lea, now you see what kind of mess you've gotten yourself into. _She felt betrayed, hurt and angry all at the same time and now to add to that she was running from a mad man hell bent on getting her.

A wave of pain over come Rylea, causing her to falter in her running. She stopped, almost toppling head over heel but caught herself before she could. The pain kept coming but Rylea knew that she had to run or he'd get her. Grinding her teeth together she forced herself to run again, ignoring the pain that seemed to consume her whole body. Now more than anything she wished that she was back home. That she was back where it was safe and crazy men weren't chasing her down. She wished her father was there, ready to protect her no matter what happened.

Crushing her endless thoughts and turning the corner she ran down an alley and ended up at a dead end. _Great, now what do I do? _Fear gripped her now. She knew he wasn't that far behind her and that soon he'd be coming around that same corner. She panicked as that feeling of being trapped like a caged animal came crawling back. The sound of echoing footsteps behind her sent a cold shiver down her spine ---she knew it was him without even looking.

"Well, well, well," came the chilling sound of Sirous' voice from behind her. "Looks like there's no where for you to go."

Rylea narrowed her eyes, forcing herself to turn around and face him. She found Sirous walking casually up to her with a smug, almost pleased grin on his face. "Oh yes, this does bring back memories," he said cheerfully with a smile.

Rylea growled as she balled her hands into fists at her sides, "What are you talking about?"

Sirous stopped to stand not too far from her. He smirked on one side of his mouth as he sized her up, "You don't remember do you?"

"Remember what?" Rylea shot back at him with hatred filled eyes.

"No, I guess you wouldn't remember," he replied thoughtfully. "Since you were only four at the time."

Rylea cocked one dark eyebrow at his words. He was doing it again. He was hinting something to her that she just wasn't getting. "What do you mean? How would you know that?" she demanded to know what he was talking about.

Sirous' slate gray eyes searched Rylea for a minute before he smirked and shook his head. "I think I've said enough," he told her simply and held out one hand to her. "Now why don't you make this easy on both of us and just come with me?"

Rylea searched for a way out of the trapped situation she had found herself in yet again. Spying the emergency fire escape ladder to her left she smirked. "I don't think so," she replied and ran for the ladder.

Sirous smiled at her futile attempt of escape, almost seeming amused that she would go to such extremes to get away from him. With a speed that didn't seem imaginable he was on her, stopping her before she could even reach it. One swift move and he had her by the arm, his cold gray eyes staring down directly into her eyes, "I'm guessing you want the hard way?"

Rylea growled angrily, repulsed by being so close to him. "Well you're a smart one," she smarted off while balling her hand into a fist and throwing a punch that was aimed at his head.

Sirous caught her hand with ease and chuckled as if it amused him to see her struggle, "Give up. You have no chance against me, hybrid."

"Well here's the thing.... I'm not a hybrid so I'll take my chances," she informed him sarcastically and brought her right foot up to kick him.

Sirous let her arm go at that moment to slip behind her and grasp her tightly around her torso with one strong arm. Rylea squirmed, thrashed and kicked to try and escape the hold she'd found herself in but it was to no avail. Sirous merely laughed at her attempts, "I told you, it's no use."

Rylea growled as she gave up on trying to escape the hold he had her in ---she knew she couldn't. "What is so important about me? Huh?! What is it about me that you just can't seem to leave alone?" she yelled at the man that held her captive while angrily still twisting in his arms.

"You'll soon find out," Sirous replied to her as both of them disappeared from the alley he had trapped her in, fading into nothing more than a shadow and blending in with the sea of darkness that crawled at the walls and corners of the alley. They left just as Tadin went running by, the blonde missing his chance at saving her by only a few seconds.

A/N: ok, here's chapter 15. This one took me a LONG time to do mainly b/c I was battling writers block and I was out of town for a while. Special thanks go to MorganRay, Rogue, Two-BitGortez and Sifirela. Thanks all of you for reviewing my story. Fear not, another chap will be up soon.


	17. Chapter 16

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Chapter 16

::July 24::

Leinto lead the four girls, five Ronins and Whiteblaze down the streets of the outer regions of the demon community. His gray eyes flicked wearily over his surroundings, alert to any dangers around them. They had set out early that morning in search of where Rylea could have gone and now it was already beginning to become dark. The setting sun brought growing apprehension to the aging charge. He knew they only had a matter of hours to find her before it became too late for all of them. This little piece of information wore heavily on him. He didn't want to lose another one of his innocents to the demons. He couldn't stand to watch another one of them be corrupted and changed to their side ---especially not Rylea. Not when her and the girls had so much riding on their safety and being able to bare the armors. Not another one, not Rylea, not this time.

Bringing himself from his thoughts, Leinto glanced over and behind him to the people that were following him. "All of you must stay on your guard. We're in the demon realm now and anything can happen," he said to them, his voice harsh with caution.

Keish smirked indignantly as she placed her arms behind her head and replied, "I don't know what you're talking about. Everybody and everything here looks normal to me."

"Yeah," Rona added as her purple-blue eyes scanned over the area and people around her. "I don't see how they can be demons."

Sage's violet eyes darted uneasily over the people they passed and he shook his blonde head. He could sense the evil that surrounded the people and even some of the things around them. "No," he started and then looked directly at the other guys as he said, "They're here, I can sense an evil aura all around us."

The guys' faces hardened with Sage's words as they became aware of the danger that was upon them even though they couldn't see it. "Shouldn't the girls put their sub armor on at least, Leinto?" Rowen asked with a pointed glance in the charge's direction.

Leinto stopped walking mid step as if a thought had just struck him and turned around to look back at the four girls who walked behind him. He smiled lightly at the confused glances he got from them at his sudden stopping as they slowed there walking as well to stop before him. "Do you four think you are ready?" he asked them seriously.

The girls exchanged glances and shrugs between them; no one really spoke up and said yes or no to Leinto's question. None of them were really sure if they were ready to put on subarmor under the understanding that they may have to use armor as well. An armor that they hadn't had on even in a training situation. Rona was the first to speak up as her unsure but determined voice said, "I am."

Keish smiled in the royal blue haired girl's direction as she added confidently, "You know I am."

"I guess I am too," Kami's soft, accented voice chimed in next while nervously tucking her auburn hair behind her ear.

Silence followed as the girls waited for the last member of the group to chime in with her reply, but it never came. Four eyes looked over as one at the blonde haired girl who stood chewing nervously on her thumbnail. Noticing that all eyes were on her now, Heather raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow at them and said, "Nani?"

"What's your decision?" Rona asked her point blank, not really meaning to sound rude or mean to her.

"Either you're putting subarmor on or not," Keish added impatiently from beside her blue haired friend.

"Please Heather?" Kami piped up next to the blonde, her sea green eyes pleading with her.

Heather sighed audibly before finally replying, "Oh alright. I guess I can put on subarmor too if it'll make you all happy."

"Arigatou Heather," Kami said happily as she hugged the pretty blonde.

"Um, yeah," Heather replied, hesitantly hugging the smaller girl back. "Don't mention it."

Leinto let a smile spread across his weathered and winkled face as he nodded his graying head in acknowledgement to their answers once all had been given, "If that is your decisions, then go ahead and put it on."

The girls all looked at each other as they pulled from their pockets the armor orbs they had been given not too long ago; each orb glowed in the girls hands as if knowing that they were about to be used. Glancing one last time at each other the girls tossed their respectful colored orb they held in their hand into the air, grabbing it then with the same hand ---bright lights of blue, light blue, orange and green followed them. The lights died out finally to show that the girls' clothes had now been replaced with subarmor. Each girl looked at the other with a slight smile on her face. It still amused them each time they had to put subarmor on.

Their fathers could only stare at them with mixed emotions. A part of them felt pride at seeing them wearing an armor that they themselves had once worn with pride and the other half dread at seeing them in their old sub armor, knowing what long grueling wars they had fought through with those very same armors. They hoped that their daughters wouldn't be plagued with the same kinds of wars and battles they had conquered because they wore the same armor they had. Each father hoped for the best for all of them, knowing that the worst was just beginning for them.

Ryo just turned his head away from them, wishing that his own daughter could have been there with them. He looked up at the darkening sky, wondering where his daughter could be and if she were ok. He hoped she was. He hoped that who ever had taken her before hadn't gotten to her again, but wouldn't know for sure until he found her. A small, amused smile came over his face as he thought, _If none of this would have happened I would have been at home right now, getting things around for her birthday tomorrow. _Grief filled his face as the amusement he had just felt quickly died away.

Ryo felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and turned his head to find cobalt blue eyes looking back at him. Rowen smiled at him reassuringly as if he knew what was going through the Ronin of Wildfire's mind right then. The dark haired man just gave him a small smile in return before turning his gaze back on the now subarmored girls.

Keish examined her now orange and white armored arm with a happy smile. She loved the thrill she got every time she put it on. Feeling the metal form over her body as she clasped her armor orb in her hand gave her an exhilarating rush and knowing that every time she did so she was that much closer to going into a real battle or actually putting the full armor on excited her even more. "Man I love this," she exclaimed aloud to the people around her.

"Yeah so we know Keish. You only say it about every time we put it on," Kami replied joking to her hardhead friend, a soft smile came over her face as Keish glared back at her.

Rona glanced over her own blue and white armored arms and then looked around at the faces of her friends. Something about all of this didn't seem right to her. It seemed like something was missing from this picture. Something or more like someone who was supposed to be there with the rest of them but wasn't. Rona's eyes dropped once she realized why it didn't seem right to her. "This doesn't feel right without Lea," she announced to everyone and her friends gave a solemn nod to her in return.

"You'll all be together again soon. We're going to find Rylea," Leinto told them with confidence as he came up to stand along side them. The four armored girls gave him a smile or a nod in response to his words, gaining small comfort and reassurance from their charge. Leinto gave them all a small, almost caring, smile back before motioning for them to follow him once again. He began to walk ahead of them and the four now armored girls followed after him with their fathers and Whiteblaze taking up lead after them.

Tadin hurried down the alleyway on the north side as he headed for the warehouse where the portal that led deep into the demon community was. Already the sun was setting low in the sky and he had no idea where Rylea was or if Sirous even had her. What if he did? He knew he was no match for Sirous, but if he had Rylea then he was going to fight to get her back. That's why he was heading for the portal. If Sirous had her then he would take her back to the temple, which was situated deep in the heart of the demon realm. A dark and lifeless place that he hated to go to.

Coming to the end of the alley he was walking down he heard voices and the sounds of feet or clanking metal. Thinking nothing of it he rounded the corner and ran smack into the last people he thought he would. All he saw was blonde hair as he slammed into something hard and stumbled back.

"Hey! Watch where you're going jerk!"

Tadin jerked his head up in the direction the voice had come from; realizing it sounded familiar to him. He added a familiar face to it when he saw who had yelled at him. "Heather?" he asked back in slight baffled confusion once he got a look at what she was clad in.

"Tadin is that you?" she asked back as the anger left her face almost immediately once she recognized the wild haired blonde in front of her.

Tadin didn't reply to Heather's question as he scanned over the people that made up the group, recognizing the dark haired man as Rylea's father, blue haired one as her uncle Rowen and the girls, of course. Something sniffing at his leg behind him brought his attention down to the tiger that stood behind him. Whiteblaze sniffed at Tadin's clothes, smelling Rylea's scent on him and rubbed his giant head against the blonde's thigh with an affectionate purr. Tadin seemed surprised by the white tiger's actions, but didn't seem to mind it.

Leinto eyed the blonde boy in front of him uneasily. He could sense the demon on him, but didn't see him as a threat to them. Using his staff to lean on slightly he walked up closer to him, keeping his face emotionless as Tadin's eyes came to rest on the old man curiously. "You're a hybrid aren't you?" Leinto finally said more as a statement then a question as his gray eyes bore into the boy's steel blue ones.

Tadin just stared at the old man be for him as he felt all eyes turn on him. He wasn't sure how Leinto could have known he was, but figured that Leinto couldn't be just a normal human if he had. He didn't bother looking around him as he stared back into Leinto's gray eyes. For some reason he felt almost compelled to stare back at Leinto. "Yeah," he finally replied and immediately felt the tension around him grow as he added regretfully, "Unfortunately I am."

Ryo's eyes immediately narrowed at Tadin and before anyone could stop him the dark haired man had the blonde boy pinned against the wall with one strong hand clamped tightly around his throat. "You're a hybrid and just _happened _to be hanging around my daughter?! Did you have something to do with her disappearing?" he shouted at the dumbfounded blonde with a pointed glare of his tiger blue eyes. Rage and anger now etched into his every feature.

"Ryo!" Rowen and Cye shouted as they both took a hold of one his arms and drug the angered man off the thoroughly confused blonde. Ryo let go of Tadin's throat as he was pulled away and made no attempt at lunging back at him. Instead, he reserved himself to just glare angrily at the boy.

Tadin rubbed at his throat where Ryo's hand had been clamped tightly around it and caught his breath. Looking directly into Ryo's eyes he replied back to his questions, "No, I had nothing to do with your daughter disappearing. I was the one who brought her back."

"You brought Lea back?" Rona repeated as if she couldn't believe that he would have. She didn't really like Tadin all that much and to be honest, didn't think that he would have really done something like that.

"Yeah," Tadin replied a little insulted, catching the hint of distrust in her voice. Looking back over at Ryo he continued, "Rylea showed up at my place earlier today. She said she had to get away from all of you and wanted to know if staying with me would be ok. I told her it wouldn't be a good idea for obvious reasons and that's when Sirous showed up."

"Who is this Sirous?" Leinto butted in with his question before Tadin could finish with what he had been saying.

Tadin sighed as if he didn't want to talk about who he was or for that matter, be talking to any of them. "Sirous is a purebred. He's also the one who had Rylea kidnapped in the first place," he replied, anger seeping into his voice at the mention of him.

"Ok, where's Lea now then since you say you had nothing to do with her disappearing?" Ryo sharply asked him, not trying to hide the fact that he was starting to dislike Tadin even more.

Tadin turned his blue eyed gaze back over onto Ryo and stated simply, "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Ryo spat back at him, becoming more enraged by the blonde boy with every second that went by.

"I mean," Tadin sardonically replied back as he shifted his weight on his feet. He was becoming restless with just sitting there and bantering back and forth with these people when he needed to be on his way to the temple. "She took off before Sirous could lay a hand on her. I chased after them but I lost sight of them soon afterwards. So to answer your question again, I don't know where Rylea is."

Leinto studied this new boy in front of him. He didn't think he was lying about not knowing where Rylea was, but he had a hunch that he knew of a place to look for her. Clearing his throat to catch the young hybrid's attention he said, "You don't know where she is, but do you know of a place where she might be?"

"And what if this Sirous guy has her again, what's he going to do to her?" Keish spoke up suddenly, breaking into the conversation that had been adults only up til then.

Tadin sighed impatiently with them all. He knew he'd probably need their help, but the thought of breaking a golden rule amongst the demons and bringing outsiders into the demon realm wasn't setting well with him. Then again, it was a Supreme rule and since when did he abide by their rules? "Ok look," he started and glanced around at all of them. "I think that Sirous has her again and if he does then he'd take her to the temple. Now the temple is deep in my world, which means you'll have to pass through a portal. I was on my way there when you all stopped me."

"Your world?" Rowen spoke up, intrigued by what he was saying. "Do you mean to tell me that your world is in another dimension?"

"I guess you could you say that, yeah," he replied after taking it into consideration.

"As much as I would love to hear the conversation that I feel coming up about his world and dimensions Rowen," Kento spoke up and glanced over at the blue haired genius as he continued with, "I'd love even more to actually go there."

Rowen just glowered at the ash-blue warrior of justice while secretly pondering ways to get him back later. On the other hand, Sage didn't seem to enthusiastic about his proposal at all. Somehow this seemed way too much like a set up or a trap to him. Go into a different dimension? That had trap written all over it in big bold letters to him. "How do we know that what you're saying is true and that you're not really helping this Sirous person out?" he voiced his apprehension and distrust to him.

Tadin turned angry steel blue eyes over at the person who had spoken to him and replied coldly with, "You don't, but ask your self why a hybrid would help a purebred like Sirous out. Why would I be sitting here wasting my time talking to all of you if I didn't want your help or think that you could help me find her? It's against the rules for me to even take you into my world and yet I'm willing to. Isn't that telling you something?"

"Not really," Ryo mumbled out as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. He wasn't too keen on believing or trusting the boy either.

"You know what I've just about-"

Leinto's staff hitting the concrete ground beneath him stopped Tadin from finishing his statement to Ryo. The old man's gray eyes sternly stared down everyone around him as he took the commanding role of leader. "That is enough," he commanded and the people around him went quiet as he continued on. "Now, I've made my decision. We will be following this boy, Tadin, into his world where I pray we find Rylea because our time is quickly diminishing."

Silence followed the old man's words and he nodded his head approvingly to it. He had been prepared to settle someone's argument with his decision, but liked this much better. "Now," he started again while his gaze lightened some but still held a commanding tone to them as it came to rest on Tadin. "Please lead the way for us."

Tadin gave a silent nod to the graying charge as he began to walk ahead of them again. He needed to get to the warehouse that sat on the very edge of the north side and he was beginning to become worried that they may not have enough time. Leinto fell into pursuit after the young man, expecting his innocents and the Ronins to fall in line after him. The girls did so without a second thought but the Ronins lingered for a few moments. Ryo wasn't moving to follow after them and they were waiting for him to go before they followed.

Whiteblaze looked up at his master, silently asking why they weren't going. Ryo didn't look back at him though. The young man held an undistinguishable look on his face now. The large tiger gave a small whimper as he pushed his head against the back Ryo's leg, trying to tell him to go. Ryo took the hint. Looking down at the tiger he frowned before glancing back up at the faces of his friends who awaited his decision. Without a word being said, the dark haired man started in the direction the others had gone with his faithful tiger behind him and his friends followed after him.

The warehouse Tadin had spoke of was just that, a very normal looking warehouse that may at one time have held shipping loads within it. Sliding the large, steel door of the warehouse open he walked inside and the rest followed. Crates sat here or there inside the building, the last remnants of what had been stored there once. Cobwebs dotted the walls and some of the grungy looking windows had glass missing from them. A rat scurried by them and Heather screamed, leaping behind her larger friend Keish for protection. Rona shook her head at the blonde as everyone turned back to look ahead of them to the boy they had been following. He now stood at the far wall, scanning it as if he were looking for a certain spot.

When he found the place he was looking for, Tadin placed his right hand against it and waited. Almost immediately a dark light emitted from his hand and ran along the wall as a door began to form in its path, the outline of it glowed and pulsed. With the doorway formed, the hybrid removed his hand and glanced over his shoulder at the others. "You have to go through first otherwise the door will shut immediately after I enter and then you won't be able to get through," he told them as he stepped aside, giving them access to it.

Leinto nodded to him and then glanced back at the girls and Ronins who stood behind him. Without a word said to them he walked past Tadin and through the doorway, disappearing onto the other side. Sideway glances to each other came at his leave. The girls weren't exactly sure if they should follow after their charge or not. Before they could make a decision, Ryo walked past them and through the doorway, the others and Whiteblaze following after him. Not wanting to be left behind, the girls quickly followed after their fathers and through the portal.

With everyone now through, Tadin stepped in and walked over to the other side. The doorway that had formed on the opposite end closed as he stepped out and into the streets of the demon realm. The sky was dark and hung heavy with thick, dark clouds. A depressed feeling hung high around them. The streets themselves seemed empty of anyone ---it was almost like a ghost town. Paved, brick roads sat before them with rows of town houses on either side. The place almost had a sixteenth century, English town feel about it.

Ignoring the unnerving stillness of the place, Tadin set out ahead of the large group. He had his sights set on the towering temple in front of them with its brick walls set around it and wrought iron fence. That was where he was almost positive he was going to find Rylea. The lingering crowd behind him quickly caught up pace with him as they all made their way down the desolate streets and towards their destination ahead of them.

Rylea awoke to find herself lying on a cold cement floor of a cell. Groggily she scanned her surroundings and found herself back in the same area that she had been in before, minus the shackles. Groaning, she closed her eyes against the pain that rampaged its way through her head. A churning, fiery ache spread through out her body ---consuming her in its painful grasp. Grating her teeth together against the pain, she forced herself to sit up from the floor on her folded knees. A cold shiver ran down her spine and she wrapped her arms around herself against it. The pounding in her head intensified as Rylea's vision began to blur. Closing her eyes against it she slowly and gently lay back down upon the cold cement of the floor beneath her.

The cold feeling of the floor brought her some comfort against the raging, throbbing sensation that ran through her head. The pain that shot through her body grew, extinguishing any thoughts she may have had to try and escape again. Slowly the dark haired girl slipped into an unconscious state on the cold cement floor of her cell as memories weaved in and out of her mind uncontrollably.

__

"Mommy, what are you doing?"

The brown haired woman looked down at her daughter; her brown eyes twinkled as she smiled warmly down at her. "I'm making cookies for us, Lea angel. Do you wanna help mommy?" she asked her daughter sweetly.

"Yeah!"

The woman laughed at her daughter's enthusiasm while helping the girl stand up on the kitchen chair beside her where the girl could get a better view of what she was doing. Then, she took some of the cookie dough she had and patted it between her hands until it was flat and round before placing it on the cookie sheet in front of her. Taking some more of the dough she handed it to the dark haired, wide eyed girl beside her, "Now you try, Lea."

Taking the dough from her Mother's outstretched hand, the girl copied to her best ability what she had seen her mom do. When she was done she held it up triumphantly with a bright smile on her face and exclaimed, "Lookie! I dids it mommy!"

__

The woman smiled warmly back and took the now flattened dough to place it on the cookie sheet along with the others. "Yep, you sure did angel," she said back to her, pleasing the little girl.

After putting a few more on the cookie sheet the woman took it and walked towards the awaiting oven. The little girl hopped down from the chair she had been standing on to follow after her Mother, "Mommy? What are you doing?"

Opening the oven door, the woman placed the cookie sheet on one of the baking racks before closing the oven door again. She smiled down at the little girl who now was fixed on staring into the oven through the glass on the door. "They have to cook silly," she said to her, tapping the little girl lightly on the end of her nose with a smile.

"Oh, otay mommy,"

The brown haired woman smiled more as she flipped her long braid over her shoulder and picked her daughter up, setting the girl on her hip with arms wrapped around her body. "You know what?" she said to her, her warm brown eyes twinkling.

"What?"

Grinning, she kissed her daughter's cheek and then laid her forehead against hers, rubbing there noses together as she proclaimed to her, "I love you Rylea Marie."

Giggling at what her mom had done, the little girl replied with, "I love you too mommy." The words seemed to echo as the picture of the little girl and her mother began to become fuzzy and out of focus, fading back deep into the subconscious mind of its owner.

"I love you too mommy," Rylea mumbled incoherently in her half conscious state of mind. The pain had ceased momentarily now and she quietly dozed on the floor of her cell, reliving memories in her mind. Someone shaking her brought her back from her unconscious state and she groaned in protest, batting at the person with her arm.

"On your feet hybrid," a voice ordered of her from somewhere above her.

Rylea's eyes snapped open as she glanced around her surroundings, realizing that she wasn't at home. Remembrance of what had happened leading up to that point came flooding back to her as she figured out where she was exactly. "Get up I said," the voice said again, anger now creeping into it.

Choosing to ignore the voice, Rylea laid where she was, hoping that whoever it was would take the hint that she didn't want to get up and leave. That's not what happened though. The voice above her only growled more in annoyance and grabbed a hold of her arms, pulling her to her feet whether she wanted to be up or not. Pain surged through the dark haired girl's body at being yanked to her feet so hard and she let out a cry from it.

The person the voice belonged to glared at her with a mock of amusement at her suffering. He seemed to enjoy hearing her wail in pain. "Lord Sirous has requested your presence in the main chamber," he snarled out to her.

A smirk curled around Rylea's lips at the person who stood before. This person looked to be a human in some aspects but wasn't a human at all. Fox ears sat on top of the man's head while a brown, bushy tail swished behind him. He had emerald green eyes that were almond shaped and long, sharp nails like a cat's. He looked to be in his early twenty's but could have been much older than that. "Has he now?" she said as a coy smile spread across her face and she chuckled before adding, "Well you can tell Sirous for me that I don't care what he 'requests' of me. I'm not going."

The fox demon growled, baring two of his pointy sharp teeth as he grabbed Rylea roughly by the arm and retorted, "Yes you are now get moving."

Rage surged through Rylea at being jerked around by him and her eyes narrowed dangerously at him. Without thinking she wrapped her left arm around his own that was still holding on to her and thrust it up ---causing the bone to break at the joint with a sickening crack. The fox demon howled in pain and Rylea took that moment to take her right fist and slam it into his jaw, laying him out onto the cement floor of the cell unconscious. Still glaring down at his now still form she sneered out to him, "Maybe that will teach you to keep your hands off me next time."

Before she could even make a try at escaping from the cell that she still stood in, then the door swung open as more fox demons scurried into the small chamber. Quickly they all leaped onto Rylea before she could either kill them or end up escaping again. Trying to subdue the girl turned out to be more than they could handle as she kicked, punched and thrashed her way through the new demons who had come in ---soon they too found themselves much like the other fallen fox demon. An army, it seemed like, of fox demons swarmed into the cell. Over powering the smaller girl they quickly subdued her.

Angered screaming coming up the hall caused Sirous' attention to be drawn to the large double doors that lead into the main chamber he now stood in as they were opened and four fox demons came in half dragging, half carrying a very not so happy looking Rylea. An amused smile came to the silver haired man's lips as he turned and began to walk to them with hands clasped behind his back. The fox demons stopped when they neared Sirous and then tossed the still squirming girl onto the floor in front of him, as one they stepped back as far away from her as they could ---not wanting to be around her if she decided to turn on them again.

A chuckle from above her made the dark haired girl glance up sharply and be met by Sirous' face who held a look there that she didn't like at all. Her eyes were drawn away from him to her new surroundings, glancing around quickly as she took in everything. Torches and candles lined the walls of the large chamber, casting eerie shadows that seemed to be alive almost over everything. Stone pillars that held up the balcony on opposite sides of the walls stood before her. Intricate pictures of different things had been chiseled into the stone bases. A roaring fire at the front of the chamber caught her eye next. Its burning flames flickered and danced around inside the large stone hearth, almost calling to her in a sense. Above the stone fireplace, almost engraved into the stone wall was a large Roman numeral clock. The large minute hand clicked up one notch to stop at half past eleven.

"Welcome Rylea," Sirous' chilling and yet mocking voice said over her. "Please, make yourself at home."

__

I don't think so. She thought to herself while slowly climbing back to her feet, wincing at the sore muscles that protested to her movements. Out of the corner of her eye she caught all four of the fox demons who had drug her in there take one giant step back as one, almost seeming to cower in fear. "Don't worry guys," Rylea said over her shoulder to them. "I'm not going to hurt any of you..... As long as you stay out my way that is."

Sirous' chuckling brought her attention back on him. Watching him smile at her only infuriated the young girl more. "Well I can see that the demon in you is already coming out," he stated with a coy smile in her direction. "Maybe I won't have to use too much energy in turning you after all."

Growling at his words she balled a hand into a fist at her side, seriously considering slamming one into him like she had the fox demon in her cell. Deciding against it, she resigned her self to play along in his little game. "Ah huh and..... Just how would you know that might I ask?" she asked him sweetly, but her words dripped with sarcasm and venom.

"I can sense it," he replied and unclasped his hands from behind his back where they had been. "You should start to notice here soon."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Rylea eyed the man in front of her curiously. Something about him seemed very familiar to her but she couldn't put her finger on why exactly. "How do you know all of this?" she asked of him cautiously.

"How do I know?" Sirous repeated and let a soft, almost chilling chuckle escape him before replying, "Are you sure you want to know the answer to that?"

Rylea considered his question for a moment. Did she really? Something about the way he asked it made her think twice about it. Maybe it wasn't that important after all to know what he kept babbling on about, what he kept hinting at but wouldn't come right out and say. "Hai," she answered him finally as she mustered up any strength she could and prepared herself for what he was about to tell her. "I want to know how you seem to know so much about what's going on with me and why you keep mentioning me not remembering something."

Cold gray eyes silently laughed at her as the purebred took a few slow and easy steps towards her to close in the gap between them. He wanted to be as close to her as he could when he finally told her. He wanted to be up close so that he could relish in her shocked and probably enraged face. "You want to know? Well, I'll tell you," he said as he continued to walk towards her. A mad gleam had started to shine in his gray eyes now, a gleam that twinkled at her mockingly.

Uneasiness and uncertainly shown on Rylea's face now. She wasn't so sure that she had made the right decision after all. Her eyes stayed glued on Sirous as he finally stopped just in front of her small form that he seemed to almost loom over. "I of all people should know what's going on with you Rylea," he started and that mocking smile of his began to tug at the corners of his mouth. "I was the one who made you what you are now."

"Nani?" came the startled and confused reaction from Rylea as she took one tentative step back from the menacing looking man.

The silver haired man be for her smiled more at her shocked expression, soaking up every ounce of confusion and almost fear that he could from her. "Yes, eleven years ago this whole thing began," he started and his expression hardened as he continued, "The only problem is you were supposed to turn that night. Instead of doing so though, your demonic half went into hibernation..... Until now that is."

Rylea's gaping, wide eyes stared back at him in stark disbelief while her hand automatically came up to grab her Mother's pendant, wanting to feel the smooth and consoling metal in her hand, but found nothing there. "Looking for this?" Sirous' mocking voice asked of her.

Darting her eyes over to where his voice had come from she gasped when she found the pendant she had been looking for dangling from his fingers. "My Mother's pendant," Rylea whispered out while staring at it.

Sirous smiled mockingly back at her astonished expression while he played with necklace in his fingers. "You know," he started thoughtfully, "At first I had thought that maybe you weren't the one I had thought you were. Then I thought, nah, you had to be. You were the next in line to bare the Wildfire armor after all. Then I had to ask myself why you hadn't turned like you were supposed. I never could really understand it ....Up til now anyway."

His gray eyes glanced up from the necklace he was holding as he clenched his fingers around it and onto the frowning face of Rylea. "You see, I have this theory that the reason why your demon powers were suppressed and made go into hibernation, is all because of this little necklace here," he told her while the beginnings of a twisted smile came across his face. "This is the same necklace that woman was wearing. The same one she took off and placed around your neck. Foolish woman. She was hell bent on protecting you, you know? To the point of dying to save you."

Vivid blue eyes narrowed onto the purebred now as an angry voice replied, "What are you talking about?"

"It was very humorous to watch her pitifully try to protect you. Even though she knew she couldn't," he continued on without missing a beat. "What a shame it was to kill someone as beautiful as she was though."

Confusion and disbelief curled its self around every inch of Rylea's still half comprehending mind. She shook her head stubbornly, not wanting to listen or believe anything he was saying to her. He had to be lying. He had to be making this up to get her mad. He just had to be, right? Without realizing it, the dark haired girl took a small, almost faltering step back from him. She didn't want to hear what he had to say anymore. No longer did she want to know the answers to her questions.

Sirous wasn't done with her though. He'd just begun to torment her and now the final blow was about to be dealt. His smile grew as he leaned in close to her ear, his breath against her face making her shiver in disgust as he whispered, "I killed your Mother Rylea. I'm the one who made you the demon you are now."

Bright blue eyes went wide as his words set in and registered in her thoroughly confused brain. He had killed her mom? She staggered back from the purebred, wanting to put as much space between them as she could. "No," Rylea stubbornly whispered out in protest but a part of her knew what he said was true. "You're lying!"

"I watched as she put something around your neck and told you run away," Sirous continued as he closed in on her. His cold gray eyes stared mockingly into her own as he moved in for the kill. "Watched as you obediently ran for the forest like she had said as I killed her without a second thought."

Rylea stopped moving back from the looming, silver haired man. Her eyes were wide and unbelieving as memories flashed across her mind's eye. Glimpses of things popped in and out of her thoughts at first before becoming full fledge scenes in time. A memory of something that had happened so long ago danced across her eyes. A memory of something that for so long she had refused to remember ran without mercy across her mind.

__

There was a crash as the front door banged loudly against the side of the house and Luna ran outside with her daughter in arms. Fear gripped at the woman's features and her eyes searched silently for a way to get away from whomever was chasing her. Rylea clung to her Mother as two more people appeared in front of them, stopping them from heading towards the awaiting car and escape. Luna growled in aggravation as she held her daughter closer to her. "What do you want?" she demanded of the two be for her, fear etched around the edges of her voice.

A silver haired man walked up behind the two already in front of the woman, smiling at the sight before him. The sight of his smile sent shivers down both the woman and little girls' spines. "All I want is the girl. Hand her over and I might spare your life, woman," the menacing looking man told her, but his eyes said other wise.

Luna glared defiantly back at the man and cradled her daughter closer in her arms. Already she was searching for another way out and away from these people. They wouldn't get her child, no matter what she had to do. "Never! I'd rather die than hand my baby over to you," she spat at him angrily, her brown eyes showing she meant what she had said.

The man grinned and something very evil seemed to gleam in his eyes at her proposal as he replied coldly with, "That can be arranged." A wicked grin spread over his face as the silver haired man produced a dagger from the inside of his black trench coat.

Luna eyed the dagger with wide, terrified eyes before then setting her daughter down on the ground next to her. Quickly the brown haired woman pulled the necklace she wore around her neck off and placed it around the little girl's neck. Her heart wrenched at how scared and panicked looking her daughter's eyes looked. "Lea angel, this will protect you. Never take it off no matter what," she stated to her and her voice trembled along with her fingers that worked to latch the necklace in the back. Finally accomplishing what she had started to, Luna stared at her daughter with determined, stern eyes and said, "Now I want you to run Lea. Run as fast as you can and get away from here baby."

"But mommy I dons wan to leaf you!" the little girl retorted and her eyes began to shake, tears welling up in them at the thought of being alone.

"Lea angel," the woman cooed to her reassuringly as she took her daughter's face gently into her hands. Her brown eyes captured her daughter's tiger blue ones and held them as she told her as sternly as she could without yelling at her, "Run, get as far away from here as you can. Just do it, Rylea!"

Letting go of her face, Luna pushed her daughter back sharply from herself. Trying to get her started in the direction away from herself and these people who wanted her. The girl stumbled back and lingered a moment or two. She didn't want to leave her mom alone with these people. "Go!" Luna shouted again and the girl turned and ran as fast as she could away from her Mother. A soft smile spread across the woman's face as she watched her daughter run bravely from them. "Run Lea, run and be safe sweetie," she muttered to herself as tears came to her eyes.

Rylea ran for the forest that surrounded her house, not even daring to look back at her mom and the bad people who were there. Reaching the edge of the forest the sounds of her Mother's voice scream out in pain rang in her ears and without thinking, the dark haired girl turned around to look back. Tears came to her eyes when she saw her mother lying on the ground with one of the two men standing over her. "Mommy!" she shouted and was going to run back to her when one of the men looked up and started in her direction.

Turning around quickly the little girl darted into the forest and away from the approaching man. Rylea ran, stumbling over fallen branches and her own feet at times ---climbing back to her feet she continued on her way, not really knowing where she was going. She wanted her father right then. She wanted him to come home and make all the bad people go away. Rylea wanted to run back to her Mother and make sure she was ok but knew she couldn't.

Finally out of breath and shaking from fear, the dark haired girl stopped and found herself in some kind of a clearing. Glancing nervously around her surroundings she found out that she didn't know where she was. Everything looked the same to her ---nothing looked familiar at all. Tears fell down her face as she latched her tiny fingers around the pendant that hung from her neck, her eyes still searching for a way to go.

"Now, now, is that anyway to treat company?" a deep, chilling voice said from behind her. "Didn't your Mother teach you that it's not polite to run away like that? Bad girl Rylea."

Darting her eyes over to where the voice had come from, the little girl glanced up and gasped when she caught the face of the silver haired man looming over her. She let out a scream and tried to run away from the man, but he grabbed her around the waist before she could even get two steps in. "Lemme go!" Rylea shouted helplessly and fought the man, twisting and squirming around in his grasp.

"Feisty little kid aren't you? You'll do well on our side," the man chuckled out manically while lifting his hand to her face. "Now hold still and it'll all be over in just a minute," he told her as a black light, almost like a dark mist, emitted from his hand and engulfed the little girl in its grasp.

The dark haired girl screamed as a searing pain racked her body. The mist covered her sight, blocking everything out, as it seemed to choke the very life out of her. Her hands clawed at the man's clothes as she fought to breathe. Gleaming black eyes stared back at her, silently welcoming her to his side. Lack of oxygen began to take its toll on the child as her world began to spin and everything finally just went black.

Rylea blinked several times while coming out of her trip back in time, a tear slipped down her cheek as she looked up sharply into Sirous' smiling face. Hatred for him swirled around her every thought, consumed her entire mind in its grasp. He had killed her Mother. He had ruined her life. He, Sirous, was the reason for her suffering and he was going to pay. Sadistic laughing from the silver haired man in front of her only fueled Rylea's anger more. All rational thinking was brought to a halt as one, coherent thought raced across her mind with savage feeling. _Kill Sirous. Make him pay for what he did. _She thought as her eyes narrowed dangerously at the purebred who still laughed manically; evilly at her anguish.

A/N: gasp and the truth is finally out! Oh, what will Rylea do to Sirous? Will the other's reach her in time? Will Rona's prediction come true? I guess you'll have to wait and see won't you. lol Another chap soon to come. Special thanks go out to: Sifirela, Two-BitGortez, BB289 and Rogue.


	18. Chapter 17

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Chapter 17

::July 24::

China blue eyes narrowed into a glare at the silver haired demon before her while hot, hatred filled tears fell silently down her cheeks. Her anger and hatred for the man before her was over whelming her every sense and making a secret part of her deep down start to awaken. Already she could feel that other side of her beginning to pace and crawl just below the surface, wanting to be let out. An icy cold shiver ran throughout her body, making her shudder slightly at it. "How could you," she growled out at Sirous finally once she thought she could speak again. A seething rage burned in her vivid blue eyes.

"I gave her a chance and she didn't except it," the purebred shot back in his own defense, making it seem as if that made it all right.

His reply only made the girl narrow her eyes more at him. Her legs now started to move without her knowing, having her now taking slow, calm, almost confidence driven steps towards him. "You killed my mother!" Rylea shouted back angrily at him while her hands balled into fists at her sides to keep her temper at bay ---the tightly clenched fists shook at her sides.

Sirous seemed less than threatened by her. A smirk curled around his lips as he stood where he was, not bothering to step back from the approaching girl. Continuing on he said, "She was in the way. I did what I had to do and would do it again."

That did it. At that moment something snapped in Rylea. A red haze descended over her as a foreign power surged throughout her body ---an evil power that gripped her every sense and cloaked her in its energy. Her blood ran icy cold as one thought ran through her now fogged mind ---revenge. No longer did Rylea have control over her body and thoughts, now another force did. A force that only acted on cravings and instincts and left all rational thinking out of the picture. Two, no longer vivid blue eyes glared at Sirous. Her eyes had now taken on a hard and cold look void of feelings or emotions.

Sirous smiled as he sensed that demonic power come alive in her finally after all those years of waiting. He'd been waiting for this moment for so long and now it was finally at hand. Gazing up at the Roman numeral clock on the wall above the hearth, he smiled a cold, mocking smile as he found the hand now pointed down at quarter to midnight. Soon, the prophecy of the Goddess would be full filled and once again she would reign over the mortal and demon worlds. He had the one thing that had been missing all these years ---his girl who held the blood of both worlds. Now he had her and couldn't believe how much power she held alone, without the Goddess. A sly smile slid across his face as he could see the dark power radiating from her small form.

"Welcome home, my Rylea," he welcomed her with wide arms and the flames danced high on the walls and in the hearth behind him.

"My Rylea?" the now demonic girl repeated with a cold voice. At the wider smile she got from him the girl continued on with, "I'm not 'your Rylea'. I am owned by no one but myself. You think you got that or do I need to go into more detail for ya buddy?"

A chilling laugh escaped the silver haired man as he laughed at what the newly awakened hybrid had proclaimed. Nervous chuckles came here or there from the fox demons situated around the room ---they weren't sure what their master found to be so funny, but figured laughing along with him was the safe thing to do. Calming his laughter down to slight chuckling, Sirous replied to her with, "You own yourself? That's a laugh child. I own you. I created you and I own you."

"Oh do you now?" Rylea asked back as a dangerous smile played over her face. Running her tongue over her top teeth, she chuckled some and flicked her bangs out of her eyes before saying, "Do I have to repeat myself? Didn't I just say that _I _own myself, not you?"

"And didn't I just say that _I_ created you, _I _made you the hybrid you are now so then that gives _me_ rights over you?"

Rylea was quiet for a moment as she stared at the man before her with an unwavering blue eyed gaze. Clicking her tongue she folded her arms over her chest and cocked her head to the side as a frown fell over her features. "You know..... I don't think I like you very much," she stated to him plainly before then cracking her knuckles and starting in his direction while adding, "How bout I show you what I do to people I don't like."

"Guards," Sirous called out to the fox demons around him and they immediately swarmed Rylea, stopping her in her tracks with swords held out in front of them. The silver haired man now chuckled in amusement as he said, "Just try to get past my guards."

"Is that a challenge?" a cold smirk wrapped itself around Rylea's lips as she added in a low voice, "Because I just might take it."

"Well by all means, take it. Show me what you can do," he goaded her on with a grin on his face.

"With pleasure," she said back dangerously before grabbing a hold of the sword pointed in front of her, surprising the demon that held onto it. Yanking on it she sent the fox demon holding on to it flying over her shoulder and slamming into the ones behind her ---knocking three of them to the ground in a pile of fur and limbs. Twirling the sword she now held in her right hand, Rylea then plunged the silver blade deep into the stomach of the guard in front of her before twisting it around and jabbing it under her arm and into the one behind her, stopping the advancing demon dead in his tracks with sword still held over his head ---the demon sunk to his knees, dropping the sword from his hands, and fell forward onto the marble floor when she retracted the sword from his chest. Twisting the sword high above her head in a practiced, fluid way she then brought it back down in a slicing arch on the approaching demon in front of her, slicing off his outstretched arm and then plunged it deep into his chest to finish him off. Smirking now as her eyes darted to the last one behind her, the dark haired girl twirled around in a flash and drove the sword deep into the last fox demon with one hand ---making the blade run all the way through and out the other side.

The demonic girl watched with a pleased grin as blood ran from the mouth of the demon before her before he then sunk to his knees and slid off the blade, leaving a trail of blood in his leave. Taking her index finger she then slowly ran it along the bloody end of the sword she held in her hand before bringing the now bloody finger up to her lips and licked the coppery substance from the finger. Grinning, she then advanced on Sirous while saying, "Hm, the blood of a fox demon tastes just nice. I wonder what the blood of a purebred tastes like."

The silver haired demon straightened, bringing himself up to his full height as a smile of amusement spread over his face. So far she'd passed his every expectation with flying colors. "Well why don't you come over here and find out?" he challenged the girl, knowing full well that she'd take it and attack him.

With a sly grin spread over her face Rylea replied, "I will," and then lunged at the silver haired demon with her sword held in front of her, ready to run him through. Much to her dismay, the purebred was much faster then she had first thought. Moving too quickly for her to keep track of him, Sirous was behind her in an instant. Taking the girl off guard he then wrapped one of his arms around her neck and began to choke her from behind.

The demonic Rylea kicked and twisted in his grasp, trying her best to get away from him. The demon that held her merely laughed at her attempts as he said, "Foolish child, you can't beat me. Give up."

"Never!" she growled back as her foot came up and connected with his face over her shoulder in a swift kick. Hissing in outrage, the dark skinned man let go of his prey as his hand came up to feel his face ---making sure he wasn't bleeding anywhere.

Taking her opportunity, Rylea got away from the silver haired demon as fast as she could. Turning around when she was sure there was enough space put between them, she smirked back at him gleefully. "Aw, I'm sorry did that hurt you?" she mocked him before laughing a cold, chilling laugh. "I guess next time I'll try not to make it hurt as much."

Growling, Sirous glared back at the mocking girl who stood before him with hands on her hips. She was supposed to be his, supposed to be obeying his commands and instead she was making sport of him. "There won't be a next time," he stated to her before he lashed out at her. Taking her by surprise, he quickly wrapped his hand around her throat until he was sure she either couldn't breath very well or couldn't talk. His eyes turned black as night while he lifted her small form off the ground until her feet dangled a good two feet in the air. He chuckled, a bone chilling laugh, as he watched the dark haired girl pound on his hand; scratching, clawing and digging at his skin as her legs flailed futilely in an attempt to kick him. Her efforts only made him laugh more.

"Take your hands off her now," the voice icily demanded of him from somewhere behind Sirous and almost seemed to echo in the large room with a deafly ring. The new voice made all eyes turn on whomever it belonged to.

The silver haired man whirled around, still dangling his prey in the air, to see who had spoken to him. His now unearthly black eyes went wide for a split second before becoming normal again as a slight chuckle escaped him at who stood before him. In the large doorway now stood the Ronins, Lady Ronins, Leinto and White Blaze all banded together with not so pleased looks on their faces. Tadin stood off to the side, his eyes focused on not only the demon standing before them but also who he was holding up in the air, still desperately trying to free herself from his grasp.

"I said," Ryo growled out threateningly as he clenched the hilt on his twin katana, Wildfire swords tighter when it became clear to him that the man wasn't going to listen to him and repeated, "take your hands off her."

Sirous smiled mockingly as he replied, "Now where's the fun in that?"

"Let her go pal," Keish now added threateningly as she cracked her knuckles at her side as if getting ready to fight and the other girls standing beside her followed her move, "or you're gonna have big problems."

The purebred seemed to chuckle under his breath at her less than intimidating threat. Shrugging his shoulders in an almost less than amused, disinterested way, he replied in an annoyed voice, "Fine, if I must," as he released Rylea from his grip. The girl fell to the hard ground below her, clutching her throat, coughing and gasping for air to fill her lungs with.

Ryo's blue eyes narrowed more as a growl escaped him at the way his daughter was being treated by this mad man. Trying to keep his temper at bay, he just silently clenched the hilts of his katanas tighter, himself and the Ronins staying put instead of running to the aid of the poor girl. The girls, however, did the complete opposite and before they could be stopped they were running to her aid. Before they were even within reach of her guards encircled them, cutting them off from getting to her.

Sirous' chilling laugh cut through the air now as he chortled out, "I may have let her go.... But that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you get to her." With a sly grin slipping across his face he now added, "Besides, I don't think she wants your help anymore anyway."

"What are you talking about?" Rona asked him, not bothering to hide the fact that not only was she angry with him but that she also hated him as well, as a glare formed on her gentle features.

Taking two tentative steps towards the blue and white sub armor clad Rona, Kami now piped up as well, "Why wouldn't she want our help?"

"You'll find out soon enough," was all Sirous said before he signaled for his guards to attack them.

The guards now approaching them, the Lady Ronins backed away, not sure as to what they were supposed to do now. The guards didn't look like they were too friendly or wanted to talk anything out as they brought their swords up and closed in on them. Now nervously glancing around at the demons who were approaching them, Heather piped up, "Now what?"

"I don't know," Rona replied helplessly from the blond's left as they were pushed back to back into a circle.

Keish smirked as she flicked her blue eyed gaze around at the demons, "Looks like we're gonna have to fight."

"Fight?" Kami asked nervously from the bearer of Hardrock's right.

"Yep," she replied with a firm nod of her head.

Leinto sighed, dragging one hand down his wrinkled face as he stood back with the Ronins and watched as the enemy trapped his warriors. Shaking his head he now slammed the end of his staff on the floor to gain their attention and shouted to them, "Put on your armor now!" Four heads darted over in his direction with confused, asking glances and Leinto held back the urge to scream at them as he instead calmly shouted to them, "Call forth your armors like I told you to! Do it now while you still have a chance!"

The girls looked around at each other and got shrugs or unsure glances from each other. They'd watched earlier as their fathers had put on their armors and had a pretty good idea as to how they were supposed to ---but still the thought of actually putting on battle armor was a little unnerving to them all. Even if they knew their lives and the life of a teammate depended on it. Rona's purple-blue gaze fell over onto her cousin's form still kneeling on the ground and an understanding of what they had to do showed on her face as she looked back at her friends gathered around her. "Come on, Lea needs our help and we all knew that we would have to don the armor sooner or later. I think now's a better time then never," her determined voice stated to the others around her.

"She's right. What are we waitin for? We got demons to destroy," came Keish's confidant and more than happy statement.

"Yes, we have to," Kami added reluctantly, the thought of having to fight in a battle like this was frightening to the usually peaceful girl but she knew deep down that it was what she had to and was going to do it.

Rona nodded her head firmly and started them off, mimicking what she had seen her father do when he himself had called forth his armor while saying, "Armor of the Strata, Dao Inochi!" The other's quickly followed her lead and threw the demons approaching them completely for a loop.

"Armor of the Hardrock, Dao Gi!" came Keish's shout as she did as her father had done.

"Armor of the Torrent, Dao Shin!" Kami's sweet voice commanded as she nervously called forth her armor.

"Armor of the Halo, Dao Chi!" lastly, Heather, shouted out her call to arms and followed in the footsteps of her three friends.

Once the call to arms had been said, the girls were then wrapped in an array of cherry blossoms and lights as the armor they had never worn before was called forth out of its resting to fight. Finally everything stopped and cleared away to reveal four girls now clad in the armor their fathers had first been given by the ancient so many years ago. The same armor that they thought Suzanagi had destroyed when they had been given new armor. But there it was, fitted on their daughters just like it had been for them. Everything right down to the weapon was the same and for a second the Ronins could almost see themselves at that age wearing the very same armor.

Sage, Cye, Rowen and Kento just stared at the girls now donned in armor and kicking the demon's butts. Never had they seen their daughters in armor before, let alone the armor the ancient had given them. Emotions ran high as they recounted memories of the wars they themselves had encountered while bearing that armor. Memories that they never wanted to remember. Things that they had worked so hard to forget and put behind them. Ryo, on the other hand, wasn't even looking at the girls now. His eyes were focused on the demon hovered over his daughter like a guard dog and the guard demons who stood around him. His mind worked fast to try and find the fastest route to the girl behind them. She was his main concern at the moment.

More guards came from every corner of the room and attacked the now armor clad girls. Soon there seemed to be too many, they almost outnumbered them five to one but still they fought on, refusing to give up now. Kento growled from the sidelines, watching the whole thing as if he were a bystander. Not being able to take it any longer he said, "Forget this, I gotta help them," as he charged into the battle.

Leinto's staff came out in front of the orange clad Ronin, acting like a barricade between him and the battle the Lady Ronins were in. "You can't become involved in their battle," the charge stated to him simply as his eyes still wearily watched the fight.

His answer didn't set well with Kento as he replied with a growl of aggravation, "I don't care what the rules are, I'm not going to lose my daughter or just sit back and do nothing when I know I can do something to help them."

"I cannot permit it," he once again simply said to the man as his staff stayed where he had put it, not allowing him passage through.

"Leinto they need our help," Rowen's voice now entered the conversation as he came up behind Kento. "They're not experienced enough to be fighting alone. They need our help."

"I am sorry," was all he replied in return.

Kento growled more now, "Man if you don't move that damn stick outta my way-"

"Come on guys," Ryo's voice cut through Kento's threat as he ran right past Leinto, not even so much as giving the man a second glance as he charged into the fight in front of him. The charge's rules weren't going to stop him from getting to his daughter.

Acting on the command of their leader, the rest of the Ronins followed after the red clad warrior and right into the fight. Kento smirked gleefully at the charge as he ran after the others, leaving him to stand alone now. Jumping right into the battle, the Hardrock bearer gave a holler of joy as he began to attack the fox demons as they came at him. Enjoying the fact that he was back in action. Leinto, however, watched from a far, a small smile crossing its way across his face as he watched. "It's your turn to protect them now, Ronins," he said to himself as he watched the battle unfold before him.

Soon the last demon fell and the fight was over, leaving four Lady Ronins almost breathless and Kento quite happy. Kento now stood twirling his nagenta, "Ha, still got it!" he stated proudly and the other Ronins just laughed or waved him off.

Confused faces looked up at the Ronins who were now standing around talking to each other about what they were going to do now. Speaking up, Rona asked, "I thought you guys weren't allowed to help us."

"Well you see, we Ronins don't really care what anyone tells us. We're gonna do what we wanna do," Kento replied jokingly with a wink over at the girls. Four relieved faces smiled back at him.

The sound of clapping reverberating off the walls of the room brought their attention over to the person who had caused the sound. Stunned faces now stared at who they found. "Bravo, that was some fight. You sure showed them Ronins and Lady Ronins," Rylea's voice icily mocked them in her subtle way. A sly grin swept over her face as she just stared them down with her emotionless blue eyes.

The Ronins and Lady Ronins just gawked at the girl. Unable to speak as what they were seeing sunk in and registered with them. A frown crossed over Ryo's features as he spoke up and said, "Rylea?"

The demonic Rylea turned her cold blue eyes on her father, "Hai, well.... in a way, I guess," she replied with a mocking smile.

Leinto sighed and his head dropped slightly in defeat as he watched the scene from afar, realizing what was going on and what had happened to the girl. Picking his head back up he said out to the others, "Listen to me. That's not the Rylea you all know. She's turned and now belongs to the demons."

Rylea placed a hand on her hip with a smirk on her face as her eyes now turned out onto the aging old man by the doors. "Well aren't you a smart one," she said out to him cockily.

Ryo's vivid blue eyes stared at the girl standing before them. The girl, who looked and talked like his daughter but in someway he knew, just knew that she wasn't his daughter. She was different, had changed in some way. _No, I couldn't have lost her. I couldn't have. _He thought helplessly.

Rylea now looked over in his direction as his thoughts ran through her mind, making a smirk form on her lips at the agony she felt within him. "Face it Wildfire, your daughter's gone," with a grin she added, "At least the one you used to know anyway. I'm the new and improved Rylea. Get used to it."

Sirous' smiling face appeared behind the girl, his tall form almost looming over her. He held a mocking smile on his face as he laid his hands on her shoulders and said down to her, "I believe she's made her point. Why don't you take them out to show them that you mean what you said?"

Rylea grinned wickedly at the Ronins and Lady Ronins as she replied, "That's a great idea."

The Ronins and Lady Ronins now exchanged worried glances between each other. Could they bring themselves to fight a friend? Someone who they thought of as family? Ryo's shoulders sagged with defeat as his eyes dropped to gaze at the floor. He felt as if he had failed to protect his daughter ---he felt as if what had happened to her was his entire fault. The Ronins glanced over at Ryo, almost silently asking their leader what they were supposed to do and his defeated posture said it all.

Rona's purple-blue eyes stared at her cousin in disbelief as to what was going on and what had happened to her. She couldn't believe that this was really happening to them. "Lea you don't want to do this," she stated desperately to her cousin, "we're family."

"Yeah, that Sirous dude is the one you want to take down. Not us," Keish added from beside Rona, hoping that maybe something would get through to her friend.

Rylea just laughed at their attempts to persuade her otherwise, thoroughly enjoying herself and how badly she was hurting them all. "Do you think that means anything to me?" she asked them with a pleased smile spreading over her face and a chuckle escaped her, "You're all goodie-goodies, which means you're my enemies ---all of you."

The girls gaped at Rylea with dropped jaws and wide eyes in total disbelief at what the girl had just proclaimed to them all. They couldn't believe that someone they thought of to be a friend could say something like that. She had changed and they all could clearly see it now. Rylea wasn't the friend they had all grown up with ---she was someone cold and otherworldly now. Someone who didn't care or had no feelings or conscience anymore. An evil person who meant what she said. She was their enemy now.

The now changed, demonic Rylea smiled more at the looks on their faces. The confused, betrayed and hopelessness she could feel consuming the girls now was fueling her inner demon to fight. "You're hurting, why don't I put you out of your misery now?" she stated to them before leaping into the air, two katanas materializing in her hands and she aimed them down on the unsuspecting bearer of Strata.

Coming out of her stupor, Rona quickly brought her bow up to block Rylea's attack. Rylea brought her katanas down on the blue warrior with all her strength put behind it ---smiling as she saw the other girl straining to hold her back. "Rona!" Keish shouted while coming to the aid of her friend. Ignoring the fact that Rylea was a friend she lunged at her with her nagenta, growling as she watched the girl dodge her with a speed that seemed almost in human.

Breathing hard from the attack that had just been aimed at her, Rona turned pleading eyes on her cousin. "Lea please! Don't do this, I don't want to fight you," she pleaded with her.

Rylea ran her tongue along the bottom of her top teeth and half chuckled while she grinned back at the blue armored warrior. "Well, that's really too bad. Guess that means you'll just die that much faster," the girl proclaimed coldly as she attacked her again.

Keish growled as she brought her nagenta up once again to block Rylea's attack, standing protectively in front of Rona like a shield. "What is your problem? What happened to you?" she asked Rylea from behind gritted teeth as she held her ground and both girls stood at a stand off, neither being able to push the other one into submission.

Rylea smirked and jumped back from the stand off she'd found herself in with the warrior of Hardrock, twirling her katanas restlessly as her body ached to be in a fight. "I'll tell you what happened to me. I quit kidding myself that I could ever be on the side of good and gave in to who I really was," she stated smugly back at the orange clad warrior.

Silence came as a response to her statement as the four girls standing in front of her just gawked at this foreign person in front of them. Reality of the situation finally began to set in as they all came to the same understanding ---they were going to have to fight her. It was the only way they were going to have a chance of saving themselves and her. As much as it hurt to have to fight a friend, a family member, they were going to have to do it. Nodding to one another, they each brought their own weapon up in ready positions and readied themselves for the fight that was about to begin.

The demonic girl in front of them smirked broadly at their actions as she twirled her katanas, readying herself to attack them. Grinning she said, "So, you guys finally woke up and figured it out huh. Good, now maybe you'll at least give me a good fight before you all die by my blade."

"No," Rona's stern voice said as her eyes came up to look at her cousin. Her purple-blue eyes held an unshakable determination within them now. "We're going to fight to get the Lea I know and love back. We're not fighting to save our lives."

"Hai, the Lea we know is still in there somewhere and we're going to get her back," Kami added with just as much determination as Rona.

"Touching," Rylea replied dryly and in a rather bored fashion, not seeming to be amused by their declarations in the least bit, "You all done yet?"

"Yeah," Keish retorted and tightened her grip on the nagenta she held in her hands, "I've had enough of you." Without another word said to her, the warrior of Hardrock lunged at Rylea with her weapon outstretched, intent on bringing her down.

The demonic girl merely brought up one of her katana blades and blocked the attack easily with little or no effort. "Was that it?" she mocked with a smirk and with one shove sent Keish flying back and sprawling on the floor. A chilling laugh escaped Rylea as she sneered, "Is this the best the mighty Lady Ronins can do?"

Rona ran to help her fallen friend up and with a glance over her shoulder shouted to the other girls, "Come on, we all have to attack her at once. It's the only way we can maybe over power her!"

The bearer of Torrent stole a glance over at the Halo bearer and both gave each other a silent nod before running up to stand along side their other teammates, ready to battle when the time came. The warrior of Strata looked back over at the smirking face of the dark haired girl who seemed to be less than amused by them and said, "You're going down, Rylea."

With a chuckling smile on her face she challenged, "Come and get me if you got the guts, _Lady Ronin_."

"I will," she retorted and then came at her with an attack, growling when the girl merely danced out of her way ---avoiding her every move to land at least on hit on her. The demoness was merely toying with her, enjoying the fun and thrill of the battle. The other four girls followed Rona's suit though and soon she was forced to stop playing and at least become somewhat serious as she fought them all off.

Leinto watched the battle between the girls rage on as he ambled up to the now gawking Ronins. They were focused on the battle going on, unsure if they should intervene or wait and see what happens. His gray eyes glanced wearily up at the large stone clock on the wall ahead of them and his blood ran cold. "This is bad," he spoke and five heads turned to look at him now.

"No shit, Leinto. What was your first hint?" Kento sarcastically retorted to the aging charge.

Ignoring Kento's remark Leinto continued on, "We need to get through to her before midnight."

"And if we don't?" Sage asked now as he too glanced up to the clock to see how much time they had left.

Leinto's steel gray eyes came to rest upon Sage's violet ones and simply said, "God help us all." Weary glances were exchanged as the Ronins looked at one another before looking back out at the battle before them and it wasn't looking good. Rylea was not only toying with them but was beating them badly. The girls couldn't even get a hit in on her while she danced around them, swiftly executing precise hits where she knew it'd hurt the most. Time was running out for the Lady Ronins, there was only so much more they could take.

"Damn, she's like a super Rylea or something," Kento started in disbelief as his eyes took in the fight, "The girl's not even wearin armor and she's still whoopin them."

"How exactly are we supposed to bring her back?" the Ronin of Strata asked the aging charge and then sharply glanced over to the fight when a scream from one of the girls rang through the air.

"Not _we, _there's only one person here who can bring Rylea back to her senses," Leinto stated and everyone's eyes shifted from the charge onto the red armored warrior standing just in front of him.

Ryo didn't even notice their stares, he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts as he mutely watched the fight. Still in denial that all of this was happening to him, thinking that he'd wake up soon from this nightmare he'd found himself in ---but knew deep down that he wasn't going to. Leinto laid a soft, weathered hand on his shoulder and Ryo glanced over at him. "You're the only one who can reach her now, Ryo," he told him and his gray eyes regarded him calmly, almost silently telling him of what he had to do.

"How?" Ryo asked helplessly, not understanding what the elder man was trying to say to him. "How am I supposed to do that?"

Leinto's kind smiling face looked back at him as he simply stated, "You know how."

Anguished screams filled the air, bringing the Ronins attention over onto where the fight had taken place only to now find the Lady Ronins all on the ground unconscious, with a more than happy looking demoness standing in the middle of their fallen bodies. Rylea laughed mildly as she cracked her neck as if the fight had just been nothing more than a warm up to her and proclaimed, "Well that was fun."

Kento growled, tightening the grip on his weapon as he gazed at the fallen forms of the girls, "I think this little girl needs an ass whoopin."

"Sounds like a challenge to me uncle Kento," Rylea's voice mockingly retorted as she twirled her katanas and turned to glance over at him. Her cold eyes twinkled contemptuously at him.

"Just bring your cocky, demonic, ninja ass over here and I'll give you a spanking your father never would," Kento goaded her on threateningly as he motioned with his outstretched arm for her to come over to him.

The demonic Rylea smiled at his proposition and stepped nonchantly over the bodies of her fallen adversaries as she walked over in the direction the five Ronins and Leinto now stood. "Well now, the Lady Ronins have fallen," she said with a mocking grin as she walked with confident, easy steps towards them, "can the old Ronins do any better?"

The Ronins and Leinto took one faltering step back form the approaching girl as one, almost afraid of what she was going to do to them. Rowen's sharp glare accusingly looked over in Kento's direction as he said, "Just had to go and tick her off, didn't you Kento?"

"Hey now, don't you pin this on me," the warrior of Hardrock shot back at the blue armored warrior.

Rylea now stopped and smirked at the Ronins as she twirled her katanas in a bored fashion, a mocking grin slowly spreading its way over her lips as she surveyed the faces standing before her. "Aw now come on. Don't tell me your all afraid of me," she taunted them gleefully.

"Ryo, do something! She's your daughter," Sage barked his order over at their leader as he eyed the girl uneasily.

The Ronin leader just gritted his teeth and stared at the girl before them. What was he going to do? Talk her out of it? Yeah right, like that would really work. "Rylea," he started and took a deep breath as he tried to reason with her, "You're not well sweetie, ok, so I need you to put down the katanas and let us help you."

The girl merely grinned at him, her eyes glinting with surprised mirth, silently mocking his attempt. Chuckling she replied, "Come on, is that the best you can muster up?"

"Ah, I don't think she's listening to you, Ryo," Cye grimly proclaimed as he regarded the young girl uneasily.

"Not a big surprise. When does she ever listen to me?" Ryo shot back at the water Ronin hotly.

"Never," Sage added glumly.

"Ah, dudes, I think we're in trouble then," Kento summed up nicely for them all.

"Yeah and you're the one who just had to call her over here," Rowen threw at him irritably.

"Well yeah but I figured you guys would have some kind of a plan if I did," the warrior of justice reasoned back.

"Next time ask before you start goading the enemy, Kento," Ryo now put into the argument and motioned out to the girl in front of them, "Especially if it happens to be my daughter who isn't exactly herself at the moment!"

The sound of yawning brought the arguing Ronins attention back over to the demonic girl who held her hand up to her mouth in a fake yawn. "Boring. You guys done yet?" she asked them with a frown forming on her features.

"We're just getting started," Kento informed her as he spun his nagenta at his side, signaling he was ready to fight any time she was.

"Oh, I'm shaking," she mocked with a sarcastic smirk.

Kento only smirked back at her as he said, "You will be." Before the guys could even stop him, the warrior of justice had shouted out his battle cry and charged at the girl in front of him.

Rylea simply dodged his attacks with a speed that didn't seem real. This only annoyed Kento as he fought to at least land one hit, one punch, one something on this girl. He wasn't going to be taken down without even so much as landing a few hits on her. The demon child slid out of the way as Kento brought his nagenta down on her and with a blink of an eye was behind him. "Sweet dreams uncle," she said to him before slamming the hilt of her katana into his head ---making his helmet fly from his head and skitter across the floor as he crumpled like a rag doll, rendered unconscious.

"Kento!" Cye shouted to his friend who now was lying face down on the floor, motionless with his weapon lying beside him where it had fallen. Blood began to seep from the wound on the back of his head and puddle on the cold floor beneath him.

"Opps," was all Rylea could say as she tapped her index finger against her lips as if pondering on something, "maybe I hit him a little too hard."

Rowen's wide, unbelieving eyes stared at Kento's now motionless form before they then glanced up at the girl still standing over him, seemingly looking over her handy work with a pleased smile. Gulping slightly as reality set in he exclaimed to the others around him, "Ah, guys, ......We're in big trouble."

"You can say that again," came Rylea's chilling voice before she charged her remaining uncles, taking them completely off guard. With the katana in her right hand, she slashed at Cye who blocked it with his trident but the force of her blow sent him off balance and staggering back. Whirling around, she blocked Sage's attack with one katana and then shoved him back, planting her elbow firmly in his face ---which knocked him off kilter. Taking her chance she brought her katana down on him, intent on slicing him open like a sardine can, but was stopped by Cye who blocked her attack with his trident.

Smirking she brought her foot up and connected it with his face, whipping off his helmet and sending him sprawling to the floor. Two armored arms wrapped tightly around her torso, entrapping her arms at her sides. Rylea merely chuckled at his less than amusing attempt at stopping her before she slammed her head back into his own, knocking his hold on her of and then spun around, giving him one nice kick to the head ---watching with a smile as he went down.

Picking her katanas back up from the floor she smiled wickedly while setting a foot on Sage's back, grounding him into the hard floor. Chuckling to herself she raised one katana high into the air and pointed it down at Sage's back. "You've just been officially retired, Ronin," she spat down at him while bringing the katana down at him, going to drive him all the way through.

"Stop!"

The command from beside her stopped Rylea, the blade she held hovering just above Sage's armor where it had stopped. Frowning she glanced over her shoulder and found herself face to face with one very pointy arrow aimed right at her head. Closing her eyes briefly, she let a chuckle escape her as she said, "You won't do it so why not just get that damn thing out of my face, uncle Rowen?"

"No," he replied sternly and cocked it back more as he kept it pointed at her head. His fingers trembled slightly as he held the arrow. "Get away from him Rylea or I swear I will let this go."

The girl only chuckled more at his threat, but obediently removed her foot and blade from Sage. Holding her katanas now at resting position at her sides she cocked her head to the side and stared into her uncle's eyes. A cold shiver ran down Rowen's spine at how unnerving and other worldly she now looked. Rylea only chuckled at his face. "Come on, let it go. Shoot me with your Strata arrow. Do it uncle," she taunted him on, daring him to let it go and hit her with it. Brazenly she moved closer to it to where her nose was almost touching the tip of the arrow and looked directly into his eyes, "Do it!"

Rowen faltered back, not prepared for what she had done. He couldn't shoot her, wouldn't shoot her and she knew that. Rylea's tsking face looked back at him as a grin spread over her face and said, "You should've done it when you had the chance," before her blade came up so fast that Rowen didn't have time to even register the attack. Knocking his bow from his hands and sending it flying through the air, Rylea then charged forward and slammed the hilt of her katana into his neck ---rendering him unconscious immediately.

Ryo watched as his daughter rendered the other Ronins one by one unconscious. They didn't even really put up a good fight and he knew why ---they didn't really want to fight her. Rylea turned from where she had just rendered Rowen unconscious to glance over at her father, the last one standing. "Four down," she started and stepped towards him now, "one to go."

Ryo stood his ground, as he watched her draw closer to him, refusing to back down from his own daughter. His actions only made Rylea narrow her eyes at him, not really sure why he wasn't preparing to defend himself against her. She smiled now while twirling her katanas at her side and said, "What's the matter old man? Not going to fight me?"

Ryo held his chin up defiantly, refusing to look afraid of his own daughter. A child, who he had raised, cared for and loved more than anything in this world. Meeting her eyes with his own in a challenge he stated, "No," and held his ground.

Leinto looked sharply up at the bearer of Wildfire once his words had reached his ears. Confusion melted across the old man's wrinkled face, unsure as to where Ryo was going with this. If he didn't fight her or at least defend himself against her then he was going to end up like the others. He was the last hope. The only one left who could stand up to her and win. He was the one who could reach her, bring her back from the cold, dead world she was now trapped in. It had now come down to father against daughter and everything was riding on the outcome of this fight.

White Blaze looked up into the face of the young hybrid boy he stood by. Tadin hadn't said anything since the fighting had all begun. just stood there, silently watching it as a frown creased at his forehead. The tiger rubbed his head against the young man's leg and Tadin looked down at him, startled by the tiger that he had forgotten was there. Laying his hand on his the tiger's head, he patted him softly as his eyes went to once again fall on the last two people standing. _Please, Ryo, be able to help her. You're the only one who can now._ He thought helplessly while he watched silently for what would happen next.

****

A/N: Wow, this one took me a very LONG time to get done. I apologize for this. Computer was giving me a lot of trouble, once again, so that slowed things down. Well, I hope the next chap will be up a lil faster then this one. Small thanks this time, thanks go out to MorganRay and one of my very good friends, Sifirela. Thanks both of you for your encouragement and kind words. Its what keeps me writing.


	19. Chapter 18

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Chapter 18

::July 24::

Rylea's emotionless blue eyes narrowed into a confused frown at the red clad, black haired man who stood before her. The same man she called father, same person she bore a striking resemblance to ---now her enemy and the last one who stood in her way. She stopped her restless twirling of her katanas as a chuckle escaped her, "I'm sorry, did I just hear you say you're not going to fight me?"

Ryo's vivid blue eyes bore into his daughter's, no, she wasn't his daughter anymore. This person, this imposter who stood before him was not his daughter. She may look like her, may talk like her, but she was a wolf in sheep's clothing. "Hai, you heard right," he replied to her with an unwavering voice.

"Why not?" she asked him back as confusion slid across her features. His refusal to fight perplexed her; she couldn't understand why he wouldn't want to take the chance to stop her. "Do you want to die? Is that it?" Rylea threw at him irritably and then a smirk curled around her lips as she chuckled slightly and added, "Or is it that you can't bring yourself to fight me?"

No response came from Ryo as he just silently stared her down. Leinto looked in-between the two warriors, trying to comprehend what Ryo was doing by denouncing Rylea's duel but was coming up clueless. "Listen to me Ryo," he started out to him, "You can't win this by refusing to fight her. You must fight her!"

Nothing came from Ryo as a reaction to his words. Rylea's cold blue eyes looked back and forth between her father and her charge as a thought occurred to her. With a wicked grin spread across her face, "If you won't fight me," she declared and then started over in the direction the old man stood. "Then I'll just take care of gramps over here."

Leinto's weathered face held no emotion as he watched the demonic girl walk towards him, a dangerous smile playing over her lips as she fixed her sights on him. He held his chin up, his gray eyes connecting with hers and didn't look away. "Killing me won't solve anything, Rylea," he told her calmly. "It will only leave you feeling less alive, less complete inside and craving more death."

"But you see that's where you're wrong," the girl started as she stopped her walking now, leaving only a short amount of distance between herself and her prey. "Killing you will solve a lot of my problems."

"And how do you figure that?"

"You ruined my life," she spat at him, hatred and anger now claiming her voice as her cold blue eyes narrowed at the old man. "You took away what little bit of a normal life I had when you appeared with your talk of armors and destinies. You forced me to accept something I didn't want to," her eyes now closed as her hands tightened their grip around the hilts of her katanas, "You awakened something I never wanted. Pushed responsibilities on me, took away my life and made me commit to a life of serving the poor, defenseless people of Earth."

Leinto remained quiet as his gentle gray eyes roamed over the face of the girl in front of him. A frown, however, had settled over Ryo's features as he listened and watched what the girl had to say to the charge. Subtle understanding flooded across his face, as it became clear to him whom she was really angry with. Who her hatred was really aimed at. What she was really mad about.

Her eyes snapped back open while she raised the katanas from her side. The brief sign of grief and anger had been masked once again, replaced with her mocking smirk as she looked back at the graying old man in front of her. "But I'm going to end that right now!" she shouted while closing in the gap between her and the old man, her katanas raised high over her head before she brought them down on him.

"No!" Ryo's voice cut into her rage filled mind as a blur of red flashed in front of her eyes and the sound of metal clanging against metal rang in her ears. Leinto stepped back as the warrior of Wildfire raced in front of him, deflecting Rylea's attack, keeping her from hurting him. His frowning face now watched as the two Wildfire's stood at a stand off.

Ryo's blue eyed gaze stared hard down into the face of Rylea as he held his katanas up, holding her own at bay. Her face now held a mask of confusion on it as she silently asked him why he was protecting Leinto. The Ronin leader merely smirked down at her as he said, "Leinto's not the one you're really mad at, Rylea. He's not the one you really blame ---I am."

Emotionless blue eyes searched her father's face and Ryo went on while he still held her attention, "I'm the one you blame for your life being ruined. I'm the one you blame for being forced into becoming a Lady Ronin and taking your normal life away from you. I'm the one you hate, not Leinto."

Rylea faltered back now, her katanas falling motionless to her sides as her eyes wearily flicked over his face. So many chaotic emotions were swarming around her now. The confidence she had once had was gone and in its leave left a confused child. Ryo wasn't done with her though. He advanced on her now while saying, "Admit it, Lea. You hate me because I'm the reason you even have that armor in the first place. I'm the reason that you had all these responsibilities placed on you."

The girl stepped back from his advancing form. The tips of her katanas drug against the marbled floor as she walked, creating a scraping sound. Her arms hung uselessly at her sides as his words flooded into her mind, almost paralyzing her from fighting. A smirk now curled around Ryo's face as he went on still, not going to let up on her. "Ne, Rylea?" he asked her, his voice holding a certain amount of cheeriness to it, "I'm really the one all your anger and hatred is aimed at, right?"

The dark haired girl's face took on a far away look as she just silently shook her head, her shaggy hair flying around her face as she continued to back away from him. She refused to accept that he was the one she really hated. Ryo just kept right on walking towards her though. "Say it, Rylea," he ordered her, "Tell me you hate me, Lea. Say it!"

Rylea shook her head again, tears starting to form around the corners of her eyes but she held them back. Ryo saw them though, the first signs that he was maybe gaining some ground with her. He had her backed up into a corner and wasn't going to let her go. "Say it!" he screamed at her angrily, his blue eyes narrowing at her like daggers, "Tell me you hate me!"

"I hate you!" the girl screamed back at him, tears streaming down her face and the katana in her hand came up from her side in a slicing arch, the tip of the blade stopping just barely an inch from his face. Rylea held it there, her arm trembling slightly as hot, angry tears fell down her cheeks.

Stunned, Ryo just stared back at her, not counting on the fact that she'd actually come that close to doing him physical harm. His vivid blues looked back at her from over the tip of the blade, staring down the katana that was held to his face, as he stood frozen to the floor. Astonishment slid across his face as he watched her eyes beginning to waver ---her true, vivid blue eye color was beginning to fade in and out of the cold, emotionless color that now held her eyes.

Sirous watched the events unfold from a far, a frown beginning to form on his face as he watched his demoness being turned right in front of him. Already the demonic hold on her was beginning to waver and he couldn't afford to lose her this soon. He needed her to full fill the prophecy of the Goddess. Needed Rylea to awaken her, to be the carrier for the Goddess. Growling he shouted out to the girl, "Kill him Rylea! Do it now while you have the chance!"

Rylea didn't move, she almost looked to be in a battle with herself. The blade she held to her father's face wavered, but stayed where it had been pointed. An emotionless expression had now cloaked her face in its mask, making it hard to distinguish what she was thinking. Ryo's warm blue eyes stared back at her though, never once backing down or looking away from her. They just held her eyes, silently asking her to come back to him. A slight smile slid over his face as he declared, "You can't kill me, can you?"

"Yes, I can," she replied back stubbornly but no longer did she herself sound so confident of it. Her fingers trembled on the hilt of the blade as the inner battle for control raged on inside her.

"Then do it."

His reply caught her completely off guard. Blinking, she peered at him questioningly, scanning his stern looking face for something, anything that would tell her that he was kidding ---she found nothing. The unwavering, almost unnerving blue eyed gaze that looked back at her was enough assurance for her that he wasn't lying or just kidding around. Ryo meant what he had said to her. "Why?" came her almost whispered, unsure question back.

A chuckle came from the bearer of Wildfire as he sheathed his katanas back into the sheaths on his sides and then looked her dead in the eyes. "Because I want you to put me out of my misery," he plainly stated back to her, "It's killing me to see you tormented like this. To watch as you're being corrupted and turned against your family. Just kill me now, Rylea, do it so that I don't have to watch you being used like this anymore."

Confusion and disbelief melted across the girl's face as the blade she held in her hand dropped silently back at her side. Her wide, unbelieving eyes stared back at him, unable to say anything back at his request. He wanted her to kill him? Wanted her to end his suffering that she was bringing on him? He wasn't going to put up a fight like the other's had? Why would someone want that? Why would he want that, why would he want her to kill him just because she was a demon now?

Her mouth opened and closed a few times as no words came out. Swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat, the girl piped out, "Why would you want that? Why would you want me to kill you just because of that?"

A kind, caring, understanding smile slid across Ryo's face now as he replied back, "Its simple. I love you, Rylea, and I'd rather die then see my little girl corrupted and changed, made into this demon that they all want you to be." The shock that came over her face at his words only gave Ryo more hope that maybe he was getting somewhere with her. Continuing on he said, "This isn't who you are. This isn't, and never will be who my Rylea is supposed to be. She's better then all of this, wouldn't let herself become someone else's puppet. She's too strong to let that happen to her."

The dark haired girl's eyes now searched his face as his words flowed into her mind, connecting with her somewhere. She could hear Sirous shouting from somewhere behind her, ordering her to kill him but for some reason she couldn't make her self follow out his command. Her body wouldn't let her do it even if her mind wanted to. So many emotions whirled around her, pulling her into their grasp as she fought to free herself from the place she had found her self trapped in. The girl faltered, taking a step back from him, no longer wanting to hear what he had to say to her. He was the enemy. She was supposed to be fighting him, killing him and yet she couldn't force herself to. Couldn't bring herself to left a hand to him.

Ryo's armored hand came up from his side, reaching out to her in silent understanding. His caring blue eyes urged her to take his hand, take a hold of it and come back to him. She eyed the hand wearily, wanting to take a hold of it but couldn't make herself. Her body was frozen, paralyzed now and she couldn't move. "Just take my hand," he told her and Rylea's shaking eyes looked up at him. She was so confused now and didn't know what she was supposed to do.

Ryo smiled reassuringly to her as he took one small step towards his daughter, holding his hand out to her more now as he said, "Come on, Lea, just take my hand and everything will be ok. I promise."

His comforting words swirled around her, reaching out to Rylea like his outstretched hand did ---silently asking the girl to take it. The katanas she held in her hands slipped from her grasp and clattered to the cold ground beneath her, the sound of them connecting with the floor ricocheted off the walls and echoed eerily in the room. No longer was there a confidant, mocking glow on her pretty face ---now confusion was the only thing that held her features. Confidence was now replaced with the consuming feeling of being lost.

Rylea blinked several times as if coming out of a daze as she stared at the man she bore a striking resemblance to and it was almost as if you could see her change right before your eyes. Her once clouded blue eyes became vivid again and the almost other worldly beauty she had melted away. Her mouth now moved several times without a sound coming from it until she finally managed a weak, "Daddy?"

A relieved, happy smile spread over Ryo's face as he said back, "Yeah baby, it's me."

The girl only blinked more as she tried to remember what had happened to her. Everything felt as if she had been on the outside, watching from another's point of view, unable to do anything. Furrowing her brows in confusion she started to say, "What hap-" before the clock behind her chimed midnight and a searing pain ripped through her body, causing her to scream out in agony.

Ryo could only watch helplessly as his daughter fell to her knees with head down, grasping at her chest and crying in pain as something happened to her. Whipping his head around, Ryo's eyes connected with Leinto's and silently asked him what was going on. Leinto's answer never came. An immense, dark power began to build around Ryo, choking him under its weight. Taking a staggering step back, the warrior of virtue stared wide eyed as his daughter once again grasped the katanas, then stood slowly, in one fluid movement from the floor where she had been kneeling.

Throwing her head back to knock the shaggy hair that hung around and off her shoulders, Rylea then took in a deep breath of the air around her, filling her lungs to their capacity before then exhaling it. A soft, almost hypnotic laugh flowed from her now as the girl brought her head back up, revealing what they all had feared to be true. A cold, mocking smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she said, "Hmm, does it ever feel good to be back again," and then laughed that soft, hypnotic laugh again.

Ryo just stared, awe struck at what had just happened. First she'd been back, she had, then all of a sudden the clock chimes and he loses his daughter again for her to become this.... this.... He didn't even know what she was. All he knew was that once again his daughter was lost to them and this new person who now held control over her held a great deal of power. So much power that it almost seemed to radiate from her, choking out everything and anything around it; consuming it in its dark grasp.

The charge now walked slowly up to stand next to Ryo, leaning heavily on his staff while he stared at the girl standing before them. He was awe struck. He'd heard of the prophecy of the Goddess of Night, had heard stories of her try to rule the mortal and demon worlds ---but never thought that they'd actually be able to resurrect her again. But yet here she was, standing before them and now they all had a very big problem on their hands.

"You may call me Goddess," Rylea's hypnotic voice said over in Ryo's direction before her mocking eyes fell on him and she added in a sultry voice, "or Goddess Rylea. Which ever suits you better is fine."

"Neither do," Ryo spat back at the demonic Goddess he once knew to be his daughter.

The Goddess Rylea ignored Ryo's words as her eyes then came to rest upon the new people who had just awakened from their slumber. A smirk curled around her pouty lips as she surveyed their power and auras, trying to get a feel as to how much of a problem they might be for her. "Well, well, well," she said and licked her lips before then laying her index finger on her bottom lip as if in a pondering manner. "who all do we have here?"

"My Goddess," Sirous greeted as he appeared at her side, kneeling to her in respect of her authority before then standing before her again. He waited for her nod towards him before beginning to talk again, "These armored nuisances would be the Ronins and Lady Ronins."

"Hm, really?" she replied as if mildly intrigued and then added, "Well, you'll have to fill me in about these people. I haven't had enough time to tap into this girl's memories yet."

"This girl?" Ryo repeated with growing anger, "'This girl' you're referring to happens to by my daughter and I demand you let her go!"

The Goddess only stared at him with an almost oh-please kind of expression. His anger towards her amused her, gave her strength and only fueled her power more. Chuckling in slight mirth she turned to Sirous and asked, "Who would he be?"

"He's Ryo of the Wildfire and Rylea's father. Also the leader of the Ronins," Sirous replied with an almost sneering smirk thrown over at them. He was enjoying the glory of his triumph more than anything.

"Is he now?" she said sweetly before then turning a smiling face onto the glaring Ryo, "Well, I'm sorry to inform you of this but your daughter is gone. She's never coming back."

"You lie!" Ryo shouted back, his hands balling into fists at his sides as his eyes narrowed dangerously at her. His temper was rocketing out of control and fast.

The hypnotic laugh came from her before she replied, "I never lie."

"I know you're lying! Lea wouldn't just give up like that! She can't be gone! She's not, you're lying!" the teary, determined voice of Rona cut into the conversation. She stood in a half circle, the rest of her friends banded together around her. Dried blood caked a cut on her cheek and she looked worn out from all the fighting she had been doing.

The Goddess', sharp, vivid blue eyes flicked from Ryo's red armored form then and onto the blue armored girl who had spoken to her. She quietly sized her up for a moment before narrowing her eyes and demanding, "Who is she?"

"She is-"

"I'm Rona of Strata, Rylea's cousin," Rona proclaimed in a stern, unwavering voice as she cut Sirous off, "And the three standing beside me are Keish of Hardrock, Kami of Torrent and Heather of Halo."

"Is that so," she retorted with a smirk before chuckling as if she were beginning to find their antics humorous and flicked at the wild bangs that hung in her eyes, "And tell me something, Rona of Strata, what makes you so certain that this Rylea is not gone?"

"Because I know my cousin and she isn't a quitter. Even if all odds were against her she'd still stand her ground and fight," Rona informed her hotly, her purple-blue eyes blazing with heated emotion now as she glared the girl in front of her down and three helmet bearing heads nodded in agreement behind her.

"You may have control of Lea for now lady, but she'll come around sooner or later. She's not one to take being controlled easily," Keish proclaimed hotly in defense of her best friend as she stepped up to stand beside Rona, holding her side in pain but her face showed no sign of it.

Ryo's eyes were now narrowed and his face held no smile as he finished up with, "I'm going to get my daughter back even if it's the last thing I do."

"And it may very well be," the Goddess told him smugly before smirking more at his glaring face. Chuckling slightly she reached up and yanked off the fire pendant that hung around her neck, then pulled Rylea's yori orb from her pocket. Smirking sweetly at them all she said, "I doubt she'll be needing these anymore," then tossed the red orb onto the floor before bringing her foot down upon it ---shattering the orb into pieces. A gasp sounded around the room at her actions and it only made the Goddess smile more.

She looked over the fire pendant a minute before tossing it disinterestedly down onto the remnants of the Wildfire orb and pronounced threateningly, "I'll be seeing you all very soon. Until then, enjoy the rest of your pathetic lives, _adeo._" With a shimmer of air, Rylea's form melted into a shadow and was gone. Her haunting smile, though, lingered in the air before finally disappearing along with her. Sirous smiled at all of them while pulling a necklace from his pocket. Tossing it onto the pile of other things he then disappeared from the room as well.

"No!" Ryo shouted as he fell to his knees and punched the stone floor, leaving a dent in its leave. He squeezed his eyes shut as tears streamed from them and shouted in agony, "Rylea!"

Leinto walked up to the glinting pieces of the Wildfire orb, bending slightly to pick them up and stopped when the fire pendant laying on top of them began to crackle and glow as if it would if it were hanging around its owner's neck. The pieces began to glow then before a bright red light engulfed them and the pieces pulled themselves back together ---forming the Wildfire yori orb with its kanji burning brightly in the center of it. The aging charge smiled as he picked the orb, fire pendant and silver pendant up from the floor and turned to the others, holding out the three things in the palm of his hands for all to see. "We still have a chance at saving Rylea. The orb repaired its self because the bearer of the Wildfire armor is not gone. Rylea is still alive."

Firm nods came as a response from the others as they stared at the things in Leinto's palms. If Rylea was still alive then that meant they could still save her. They just needed to figure out how to do that now. Tadin walked up to the group now, White Blaze beside him. The blond young man held no emotion on his face as he said, "Come on, we can go to my place. She's not going to be coming back here and most likely will be heading for the mortal world now."

Leinto nodded to him, signaling that he was right in his accusations. Turning from the group the blond hybrid headed for the doors they had come through, saying over his shoulder, "Follow me," and then was gone, the others trudging along after him.

-_There was a celebration of rejoice that night in the demon realm. Their Goddess had returned to them finally, but not all in the demon world were rejoicing the return of the Goddess of Night. Some shuddered at the thought and only hoped that she'd be stopped once again before it was too late for the mortal world ---but would anyone be able to stop her this time? Will the Ronins and Lady Ronins pull themselves together in time to save Rylea, along with mankind? Or will the Goddess finally have her dream become reality?-_

A dreary, depressed mood hung over the room they all sat in now. Even Tadin seemed to be sharing the same feelings as the rest of the Ronins and Lady Ronins. A deafening silence clung to the whole penthouse it seemed and only added to the dismal mood. Confused, hurt, afraid and guilt were only a few of the many feelings that could clearly be seen in the expressions on their faces. They had lost a teammate, a friend, a family member and none had even the slightest idea as to how they were going to stop her let alone get her back.

Ryo sat alone, huddled as far away from the rest of the group as possible. Thoughts raced through his mind a mile a minute. Thoughts of what was going to happen ---would they win and how was he going to get his daughter back. His daughter. Rylea. Ryo squeezed his eyes shut tight against the thoughts of her and covered his face with his hands in shame. _It's all my fault. I was supposed to protect her and I failed in doing that. Nice going Ryo, some father you are. _He patronized himself. That little voice in the back of his mind kept blaming him, criticizing Ryo for what had happened to Rylea.

A hand clamped down on Ryo's shoulder, gently squeezing him in silent comfort. Ryo opened his eyes, removing his hands from his face and stared up into one violet eye. Sage's concerned face looked down at him, asking Ryo without saying a word if he was ok. "Sage?" was all Ryo could muster up to say while he stared up at the bruised and battered face of Sage. The beating he'd taken from Rylea could still be clearly seen on his face even though the man had healed most of the wounds.

"You ok, Ryo?" Sage asked back while settling himself down next to the dark haired leader, wincing slightly as his ribs protested against the way he was bent over before leaning his back against the wall behind him.

Ryo chuckled bitterly and laid his head back against the wall behind him, "What do you think?"

"I think you've been better," the blond half joked with a light, whimsical smile before becoming serious again. "Ryo, we're going to get her back. Like hell am I going to let my niece be taken like this."

"No, but I did," Ryo replied with a heavy sigh and closed his eyes once again. "I did nothing to help her, Sage. I let her be taken like this. She was right in front of me, right there, and I couldn't do anything but watch that demonic witch take control of my little girl. What kind of a father does that, Sage?"

A frown passed over Sage's features at Ryo's spiel. He had no idea, well guessed that he was probably blaming himself, but didn't know that he felt this way. "Ryo," Sage started in his tone that meant a lecture was coming. "There was nothing you or any of us could have done for her, you know that right? We weren't prepared for it nor did we know it would happen like this. You did what you knew you could and that's all."

Continuing on he said, "Ryo, you're a good father. You had to take on the responsibility of becoming a single parent and raise two kids by yourself and as far as I'm concerned you did one hell of a job." The slight chuckle he gained from the black haired man seated beside him made a small smile form on Sage's face as he went on, "That little girl loves you more than anything and right now she's depending on you to save her, Ryo. Now get your ass up, get off the guilt trip and pull yourself together. We need you as a leader and Rylea needs you to be strong and not lose hope for her. She's counting on you Ryo, now get up and start figuring something out because I know you can. I know, I've seen what you can do when you set your mind to it."

Ryo just gaped at Sage for the longest time after his speech. He didn't know what to say in return to him. Finally a light, almost renewed smile spread over his face and Ryo said, "You're right, Sage. Lea needs me and I'm not going to let her down."

"Now that's the Ryo I know," Sage replied and stood, extending his hand down to him for Ryo to take. The raven haired leader took Sage's hand and the blond pulled him to his feet, "So, what do we do leader?"

"I'll tell you what we need to do," Kento's heated voice came from somewhere over their shoulders. The warrior of Hardrock sat on the couch, Rowen looking over the gash on his head to make sure that he hadn't obtained a concussion from it. "We need to find that demonic bitch and take her ass out!"

"It's not that simple, Kento," Cye's almost weak sounding voice retorted as he came back over to him with an ice pack in his hand for his head. Handing it to him he sat back down beside him and sighed while continuing, "We don't know what we're up against, not to mention what her plans are and there's still Rylea we have to keep in mind."

Kento growled in aggravation while placing the ice pack to the back of his head, "I know that Cye, but what are we getting done by just sitting around here? For all we know that psychotic witch could be out terrorizing the people of the city!"

"And what exactly are we supposed to do, Kento? We're all still just recovering from the fight we had with Rylea," Rowen now added as he moved on to look over the girls' wounds and make sure they were ok. "We at least need enough time to do that before we just rush off into another battle."

"Time is not on our side though," Leinto's quiet voice broke into the conversation. He looked about ready to drop over from all the stress and worry that had been placed on him in the last day. He sighed heavily while walking into the room they all were congregated in.

Ryo smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest and leveled the charge with a stony gaze, "Why do I get the feeling that there's something that you yet again have neglected to tell us, Leinto?"

"Maybe because the dude always waits til the last minute to tell us things that we prolly should have known about to begin with," Kento's sarcastic comment cut into the conversation.

Leinto sighed, closing his eyes briefly as he let his head drop. There were some many things that he could have done differently. He could have told them about his suspicions before they became true and it was too late. Maybe if he had then all of this could have been prevented. He didn't know that though, maybe even if they had known then it still would have happened ---no one would ever know. Bringing his head back up he looked out at everyone and said, "We only have until the time that Rylea was born."

"2:15," Ryo replied almost instantly, a sudden feeling of dread creeping to his voice, "She was born at 2:15."

"Why would we only have until then?" Sage's confused voice asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

The graying charge hesitated a minute, almost trying to decide on how to explain it to them so that it would make sense. Hashing out word for word on what he was going to say, he opened his mouth and replied, "Because after that time there will be no turning her back. Every newly awakened hybrid has a time limit, a window you could say, for them to decide to not go the full demon route or to. The only thing that is keeping the Goddess sustained in Rylea is the fact that she is still a hybrid. We take that control away and the Goddess will be forced to let go."

"And we do that how?" came Rowen's question.

"I don't know," the charge admitted sadly. "If she were still just a full hybrid then I would say that Ryo had that almost done, but now that the Goddess has control of her.....I don't know how to."

"Well that's just great!" exploded Kento as he stood only to have to sit back down as he swayed slightly from the hit to his head.

"Dad please," Keish pleaded as she sat beside him, placing one hand on her father's shoulder. "Try to stay calm, ok?"

"It's kinda hard to, Keish, when the guy who's supposed to be the greatest help to us isn't helping us out in the least bit," he raged on while putting the ice pack back against his head. "I mean, we've got a prophesized Goddess running around town doing only God knows what and we don't even know what to do about it!"

"And we all hear you on that Kento, but getting all upset and hot headed about it isn't going to change anything. Neither is rushing headfirst into a fight with her without even having a plan to begin with," Sage told him, a frown starting to pinch his forehead.

"Well I'm sorry my idea doesn't appeal to ya, blondie! How bout we do things your way and meditate on this for a while, meanwhile the city is being destroyed!" the warrior of Hardrock yelled back at the blond swordsman.

"Yeah and if we rush in then we're just going to end up getting ourselves killed, which means the city is destroyed anyway! Gee, your idea is just sounding better and better, Kento!"

"Better than what I'm hearing coming from you!"

"Come on you two, would you both just stop," Cye pleaded with them.

"Neither one of you are being very productive here!" Ryo's angered voice shot into the conversation.

"Yeah well I don't see you doing anything and she's your daughter, Ryo!" Kento's blazing eyes retorted accusingly over in their leader's direction.

"Why you-" Ryo growled out as he reached to grab Kento up by the shirt, clenching his hands tightly onto the fabric of it and balled one fist up behind him, pulling it back as he got ready to let it loose on him. Rowen grabbed a hold of Ryo before he could hit Kento, him and Sage both dragging the angered man off of a stunned and still angered looking Kento.

"Stop it!"

Everyone went quiet, so silent that you could have heard a pin drop. No one moved. The glaring face of Rona stared them all down, almost daring the adults to say something else to each other. They didn't though; all five of them just silently gaped at the girl. Clenching her hands into fists at her sides she criticized them, "Look at you guys. You're supposed to be our role models, the seniors of this whole armor business, supposed to be showing us what we're supposed to be doing and instead of doing that you're acting like children! Fighting over pettily little things instead of putting your heads together and coming up with a plan!"

Swallowing the lump in her throat she continued on with eyes blazing, "My cousin needs our help and what are we doing? What are any of you doing? Nothing! You're the Ronin Warriors who defeated Talpa, have survived against all odds and yet you're all fighting like little kids."

The Ronins hung their heads in shame or looked away from the young bearer of Strata. She was right, they weren't being very mature at the moment and it wasn't helping anyone out because of it. They were on a time limit and time, unfortunately, was not on their side at the moment.

She breathed in the cool, crisp night air while walking down the sidewalks of the mortal world. Her exquisite red and gold dress ran down to her mid thigh before tapering off to the side, the light breeze ruffling it as it blew. Her black, lace up, knee length high heeled boots clicked as she walked along on the cement, the sound echoing around her. Gold bracelets hung from her wrists, clanging together as she moved her arms. A feral grin played on her lips as she walked along the deserted street by herself. The sky was pitch black, no moon hung in the sky tonight, giving everything around her an eerie, dark appearance to it. Her eyes burned a luminescent yellowish green color in the darkness that surrounded her. The darkness didn't bother her. She loved it, lived for it. The shadows held nothing from her, she could see everything even in this darkest of night.

For too long she had been locked away. Sentenced to a life of misery and exile ---but now she was back. Things had changed since the last time she had tried to take over the mortal world, but the humans were still the inferior race, easily taken advantage of and easily conquered. This time her dreams were going to be seen though, were going to be followed through with and nothing was going to stop her.

A smirk curled around her lips as she thought of the pathetic fools who thought they could stop her. A chuckle escaped her. They had no idea what was in store for them. She wasn't the same as before. This time she was stronger and it was all thanks to the girl who she now possessed. The girl's powers only added to her own, making her twice the demon she had been before.

Brushing her bangs from her eyes, she set her luminescent eyes onto the unaware city before her. Smirking she declared in Latin, "_Vos mos cunctus morior," _before repeating in Japanese, "You will all die." Then turned and melted into a shadow, melding into the darkness around her.

****

A/N: Ok, here ya go. I finally got this done and I think in probably record time. Anyway, bear with me on the Latin. It's not my native language so if it is yours, or you speak it and any of my Latin is not correct, just let me know and I'll change it. On the same topic, Latin is the native language to the demon's so, if you do speak the language and would like to become my official translator, let me know. Thanks go out to MorganRay, and another good friend of mine, Rogue.


	20. Chapter 19

****

Chapter 19

::July 25::

"So you have no ideas as to how we're supposed to stop all of this from happening, Leinto?" Rona now asked the charge. She was back in her street clothes, looking nothing like the teenage super heroine she was supposed to be. The blue haired, Lady Ronin of Strata seemed to be running almost on nothing but the sole determination to get her cousin back. Her eyes held dark circles under them, making her look worn and older than her age.

"Not at the moment," he replied and looked over his shoulder to the blond haired demon standing behind him, leaning against the wall with arms crossed listening intently to what the good guys were all talking about. Looking directly at him now he said, "I need you to take me to where they would keep murals or anything of that type. I need to read up on this Goddess of Night."

Tadin nodded his head lightly in his direction while pushing himself off the wall and stood up straight. "We'll have to go back to the temple we were at before. That's where they keep those kinds of things," he replied.

Leinto nodded his head in understanding to him. Keish now stepped up from where she had been sitting silently by Kami. The warrior of Hardrock was, like the others, back in her street clothes. "And just what are we supposed to do while you go off to look at murals about the enemy?" she demanded of her charge, her blue eyes set intently on him.

The charge now turned back to look at all the people who stood behind him. His gaze danced from one person after another as he said, "I want you all to go and try to find this Goddess. We can't let her start to take over the mortal world. Stop her no matter what it takes."

"And by 'no matter what it takes' you're suggesting that we actually hurt Lea to stop her?" Heather's unsure, questioning voice broke into the conversation, surprising everyone around her.

"And like that's really going to be a problem for you, Heather. Don't even try to pretend like you actually care what happens to Lea," Keish retorted angrily in the blond's direction.

"Hey, I do care, ok whether you like to admit it or not, I do! Lea's my friend too and just because we don't always get along the greatest doesn't mean that I'd want to hurt her!" Heather's passionate, almost teary eyed response took them all off guard.

Kami's soft hand came down on her friend's shoulder while her understanding voice said to her, "We know Heather, we all feel that way, but we don't have a choice. Lea's not the same person we know and if we don't hurt her then she'll kill us."

"I know," Heather finally broke down, letting unshed tears roll down her cheeks. "but I don't want to. I don't want to hurt anybody!"

Kami wrapped her arms around her friend, even though she was at least a good half an inch shorter than Heather, and consoled the blond haired girl. Keish's eyes dropped to the floor, feeling bad about what she'd said about her sister in arms now. Restlessly her foot fiddled with the rug on the floor, giving her something else to occupy her mind with.

Rona walked over to where the two stood, putting a comforting arm around her friend's shoulders. "Hey," she started quietly to her, trying to keep her own grief from showing. She had to be strong now, she was expected to, now that Rylea was gone she had to pull up ranks and take over the position of leader. "I know how you feel, Heather, she's my cousin and I love her to death, but....We can't just not do anything because of that. We're not helping Lea out any by refusing to fight this Goddess who has control of her right now. Now come on, pull yourself together Heather, I need you right now. I need all of you guys to stay strong and help me out."

Heather nodded her head weakly as she pulled away from Kami's consoling arms, wiping faintly at the tears that dotted her face and looked up at Rona. Determination now held her light blue eyes as she said, "Alright, Rons, you've got me. Even if I'm not all that much help."

A smile, the first real smile that'd been on her face all day, claimed Rona's face as she hugged Heather saying, "You're a great help to me, Heather and don't ever think differently."

"Yeah," Keish now added into the conversation while she walked over to stand with the rest of her group. "You.... You're always good for a laugh or two here or there."

"Keish," came Kami's reprimanding response as the petite brunette set her hands on her tiny hips. Keish only held her hands up in confusion.

A slight chuckle came from the adults as they watched the girls' conversation take place. With a light smile on his face, Rowen clasped his hands together in front of him and asked, "So... Anyone got any ideas as to where we start looking for our demon Goddess?"

Kento half snorted at his question, "Yeah, we look for where all the running people, screaming at the top of their lungs are coming from. That should lead us right to her."

"As odd as that sounds..." Cye started with a quirky smile on his face, "Kento actually has a good point."

"I do?" came Kento's more than baffled reply as he blinked a few times at Cye's face.

"Yeah, Kento," Sage started with a mocking grin on his handsome face. "For once you actually used that rock head of yours."

"Woooh oh oh!" Kento shouted happily as he began a happy, almost gloating dance around the other guys as the girls laughed at his antics. "Who's good? I'm good! I'm the man! Hey-" he stopped his dancing now, mouth open and pointed a finger at Sage accusingly, "Are you making fun of me?"

Sage fought to keep a straight face as he replied, "No, Kento. Whatever made you think that?"

Before Kento could open his mouth to reply, Ryo intervened by saying, "Come on guys, we need to get moving." Pulling his armor orb from his pocket, the leader of the Ronins put on his subarmor, the others in his group following along with his lead.

"So where do we start looking, uncle Ryo?" Rona asked as she and the other girls walked up to join the adults. Now all were clad once again in subarmor as their fathers were.

"Start looking in largely populated areas," Leinto said to them. "And stay in groups of at least three to four. You'll at least stand a fighting chance then if you meet up with her." Nodding their heads to him all nine subarmored people started to make their way out of the building but Leinto stopped them by saying, "She's a telepath."

"What?" Ryo asked as he turned sharply to look back at Leinto.

The graying charge sighed as he said, "She's a telepath, so be careful. Even though it's one of Rylea's abilities don't think for a second that the Goddess won't use it against you guys. Just, keep your guards up."

Kento chuckled, shaking his head in dismay at the charge. "Man, we need to work on your little problem of with holding information," he grumbled while walking out of the building. A sigh escaped the water Ronin as he followed after his large friend.

The fire Ronin only nodded his head firmly at Leinto saying, "Thanks, we will," before following after the rest of his teammates, leaving Tadin and the charge the only ones now in the building.

Tadin now walked passed the graying old man, on his way to the door himself. "Come on, we need to get moving if we're going to get there in a reasonable amount of time," he said from over his shoulder while walking.

"Wait," Leinto called out to the young man, stopping him in his tracks. When the young hybrid turned around questioningly to look at him, the old man replied, "I have a faster way of getting there then by foot." Walking up to the still baffled looking demon, Leinto laid a hand on his shoulder and both almost orbed from the room, taking the faster way to getting to the portal that lead into the demon realm.

"You think we're going to find her?" Keish asked for probably the fourth time since they had all split up into groups of three to scour the area. Kami, who rarely was ever seen without her hard head friend, walked along side her down the dark alley, heading into the city.

Rona rolled her eyes, but suppressed the urge to yell at her friend. One because she didn't want to alert any one to their presence and secondly because it was close to one in the morning and people were sleeping all around them. The last thing she needed was to have the cops called on them for disturbing the peace. Instead she calmly replied, "I don't know, Keish, why? Do you think we will?"

"Yeah," the ash-blue haired girl replied from over to her right. "That's what always happens in the movies. You ask if you're going to the see the villain or in this case, the evil dude, and bam! They appear out of nowhere."

Kami sighed, "Keish, this isn't one of those stupid horror flicks you always watch though."

"No, but still..... That's how it usually happens," she stubbornly pressed on.

"In the movies, Keish, not real life. This isn't a horror movie," Rona retorted, her voice now rising in agitation as she fought to keep herself from screaming at her.

"This may not be one of those movies you're talking about, but I can surely make it into a real horror for you all."

They froze, as the chilling voice of someone they knew all too well came out of nowhere. Chills ran down their spines as their eyes now searched the dark alleyway for the person they knew the voice had come from. Luminescent yellowish green eyes gleamed at them from the darkness hovering around the mouth of the alleyway, before a form almost seemed to materialize from the shadows and step into the dim light cascading down from the street light over head ---her eyes then changed into the familiar vivid blue ones they all knew, loosing the otherworldly glow to them. A mocking smirk cradled her lips as she placed her hands on her hips and fixed her gaze on them.

"What's that again about this being real life and not a movie, Rona?" Keish now sardonically threw over at her blue haired friend as she tore her eyes off of the form before them.

"Now's not the time, Keish," came Kami's soft reply to her friend, her eyes never once leaving the smiling face of the person standing in front of them.

"I agree," the chilling voice of the Goddess cut through the conversation. "You have more important things to worry about. Like how long you three have left to live, before I kill you all." She dropped her hands from her hips and started towards them with calm, almost confident steps; her high heeled boots clicking on the cement ground as she walked and bounced off the brick walls of the buildings on either side of them. A growing, almost cloud, of darkness seemed to surround her; choking out everything else around them under its power.

The three girls took a few faltering steps back from the growing power that was now bearing down on them. It felt as if a great deal of invisible pressure had just been placed down upon them and was now squeezing the life out of them. The grinning face approaching them told the girls that she was doing it to them. "Something wrong Ladies?" the almost acid sweet voice of Goddess Rylea asked of them as she continued to walk towards them. "You don't look so well."

Keish stopped walking backward then, planting her foot firmly down she held her ground, her face showing just how much strain was being put down on her. The rest of the girls now followed Keish's example and stopped backing away from her as well, all now taking their stand against the demonic Goddess that was bearing down on them. She seemed somewhat amused by the girls as she now stopped her pace, a chuckle escaping her as the girl smiled more. "So, you girls do wanna play," a wicked grin crossed her face as she added, "good, I was hoping you would."

Stepping closer to them and out of the dim light coming from the street light behind her, the Goddess' eyes turned luminescent once again, mockingly gleaming at them. She'd pushed them back down the alleyway, back into the darkness, right where she wanted them. Smirking, she raised her left hand and shadows raced from the left side of them, wrapping them selves around Keish's arm's and legs. Raising her right hand now, shadows from the right lashed out and grabbed a hold of Rona's arms and legs, subduing the two girls into submission.

Kami took a startled step back away from the two, unsure of what to do now. She bumped into someone and turned around sharply to be met with the looming luminescent eyes of the Goddess. Before she could scream the cold hand had already grasped her around the neck, cutting off her wind along with her voice in the process and lifted her up into the air. The Lady Ronin of Torrent fought against the hold with all her strength, already starting to see little spots before her eyes.

Grinning more at her prey, the nails on the Goddess' hand lengthened until they were like claws now, digging themselves into the soft exposed flesh of Kami's neck. A croaked sounding scream rose up from her throat, just barely getting out around the hand that was squeezing tightly on her neck. "Alright now Kami of Torrent who's kanji is trust," the sultry voice of the demonic girl holding her up started as a smile began to slide across her face. "I'm trusting you to tell me where the rest of your little friends went."

"Don't tell her anything, Kami!" Keish shouted over to her.

"You stay out of this," the Goddess hissed over in the warrior of Hardrock's direction before another shadow lashed out of the darkness and wrapped its self around Keish's mouth; silencing her. Turning back to her prey at hand, the dark haired Goddess Rylea said to Kami, "If you won't tell me," and then a sly grin formed on her face as she added, "then I'll just have to find out for myself, won't I?"

Before Kami could even try to attempt to say anything back, a clawing, almost pawing sensation filled her head. It felt almost as if someone were manually sifting and searching through all of her thoughts and memories, looking for something in particular. Forcing herself to look into the luminescent eyes that were fixed intently on her now, Kami knew instantly what she was doing. Leinto had told them that Rylea was a telepath and that the Goddess would use her powers whenever she got the chance ---well that's exactly what she was doing now. Kami wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know so the Goddess was searching for it herself.

Almost as soon as the feeling had started then it was gone and left Kami feeling violated and nauseous at the very thought of her being in her mind. Smiling once again she proclaimed, "Thanks for the information, Kami," then dropped the girl from her grasp, watching with a glee of satisfaction as she clutched her neck gasping and coughing for air. Retracting her nails to their normal size, she then brought one finger up to her mouth that still held the girl's blood on it, licking the coppery substance from her finger.

With a frown down at the girl she spat at her, "Your blood reeks of humanity and compassion. Makes me sick just to think about it."

"What," Kami gasped out in-between sharp intakes of air, "have... you....done...with...Lea?"

"Oh she's here," the Goddess replied cheerily and then her yellowish-green eyes flicked upon Rona's dangling form and she walked over to her, a smirk claiming her face as she got right up in Rona's face and added, "Why don't you say hello? Oh yes, that's right, because she can't hear you where she is."

Rona growled as she leaned back from her face, the Goddess' eyes unnerving her. Goddess Rylea only smiled more, a hypnotic chuckle escaping her as she went on to say, "How does it feel, Rona of Strata, to know that you've lost someone you care about and yet their face is staring you right in the eyes? How do you think you'll feel when this same face kills you without a second thought?"

"I haven't lost anyone yet," Rona replied with growing anger. "My cousin is still alive and I'm going to get her back. You hear me?! I will get Lea back!"

"I'm so sure," came the unaffected reply from the Goddess as she backed away from Rona's form. Smiling happily at the three people before her, she said cheerily while backing away, "Thanks so much for all your help, Ladies. Be seeing you," then melted away into a shadow, leaving them alone in the alleyway once again. As soon as she was gone the shadows let go of Rona and Keish, letting them fall back to the hard ground below them. All three had escaped the Goddess' presence alive, but why?

Leinto followed after the young hybrid down the deserted and dark hallways of the temple. A red, trimmed in gold, running rug laid at his feet and out before him down the long and seemingly endless hallway they walked along. The charge looked around at the walls that ran out along side him, marveling at some of the work that was hung there. Then something caught his eye. Stopping in his tracks, Leinto's gray eyes took in the image in front of him. In the mural samurai who wore the Ronin armors fought fierce, frightening looking creatures.

His eyes then came to rest on one armor in particular. The Wildfire armor. The bearer of the armor stood out in front of the others, bravely fighting off the demons without a single hesitation. "This is a depiction of a battle of the past and future to come," Tadin's voice cut into Leinto's thoughts, startling the old man half to death. Seemingly not seeing this, he went on, "The Supreme seem to think that not only has this battle already occurred once, but that it will also happen again. Only that when it happens again, new and stronger warriors will be fighting in this strange armor, driving our people back into the world in which they came from as they had once before."

Everything finally just clicked in Leinto's mind. Everything made sense to him now. His eyes went wide now, peeling themselves off of the mural for a minute as he thought more on what had just rung in his mind before looking back up at the mural again. "That's it," he proclaimed in a voice loud enough for himself and Tadin to hear.

"That's it, what?"

"That's why they picked her," he said and then looked over at the more than confused looking face of Tadin as he explained in a voice that seemed to pick up speed with each word. "Rylea wasn't just chosen by random as we like to think, she was picked on purpose. Don't you see?"

"No," Tadin drawled out as he curiously eyed the old man. "I'm not seeing what you're getting at Leinto."

"Rylea was chosen to be the carrier for the Goddess not by accident or by random selection, she was picked because she was the next in line to bear the Wildfire armor!" when the frown on the young man's face didn't seem to let up or seem to understand, Leinto went on. "When the Goddess first tried to take over the mortal world, the Ronins of that time drove her back, locking her away in a place where she would never be able to get free on her own again. Hundreds of years go by and up pops Rylea. Now the prophecy that the Supreme for told is going to come true."

The graying man pointed at the mural beside him as he continued, "New and stronger warriors bearing the same strange armor would fight once again. The Goddess was again going to try and be brought back, but what's the point of them doing that if these warriors are just going to send her back again? So they come up with a plan. Pick off the leader, turn her into a hybrid, half demon, she'll carry the Goddess and wipe the rest of the warriors out and at the same time take control of the mortal world."

Understanding was now starting to show on the blond's face as he listened to what the charge was saying to him. Finishing up his speech Leinto said, "Rylea was made into a demon because it was all going to fit into their plans down the road. Her strength was supposed to make the Goddess invincible, but-"

"But they weren't counting on two sets of armors fighting," Tadin finished up for him as he began to follow along in the same thought pattern as the charge. "That's why instead of waiting until this day to turn her into a hybrid, they sent Sirous to do it while she was still young. Then they figured that they would have-"

"Enough time to train and corrupt her mind to the side of evil. That way there would be no turning her back. No matter how many armors there were. The only problem with that is that it didn't work out the way they wanted it to and instead of her turning when they wanted her to, her demonic powers went into hibernation -"

"Until now," Tadin finished once again for him. "Damn, why didn't we see this before. I knew there was a reason behind why Sirous wanted her so badly. Knew there was more to what was going on then what he was telling me, but I was too blind to see it."

"Well you're not the only one. I should have seen this before hand as well, I am her charge after all, and I did not. We all have played a part into what is happening now," he said glumly and with weighted guilt. "But we can not dwell on things that we can not change. What we need to do now is find a way to free Rylea from the Goddess' control."

Tadin nodded and began to lead the old man back down the hallway, farther into the temple in a search for the murals of the Goddess of Night. They were the only things they hoped would help them now.

A thick, humid, muggy air seemed to cling to everything around it. It hung in the air like a thick blanket, making it difficult for them to breath and especially in armor. A breeze would have been nice but in this alleyway, it seemed like there was none. Our second group of people walked along this deserted back pathway into the city. Trash littered it, rats scurried across the path here or there from time to time, busily looking for their next meal. It didn't seem to bother any of them though, either they didn't see them or had too many other things on their minds to pay them any attention.

"Here Goddess, Goddess, Goddess," Kento called out as if her were calling for his cat, disrupting the silence that had once claimed them all.

"Bloody hell, Kento, would you stop that already," came Cye's less than amused, annoyed, British accented voice.

"Yeah, please uncle," Heather piped up now, almost clinging to the arms of her uncles who she walked in-between of while her eyes nervously scanned the alleyway they walked down.

"Oh come on, stop being sissies, you two," Kento grumbled out at them and then shouted out to the deserted walkway they were moving down, "Come on, Lady! Stop avoiding me and come out and fight!"

A sigh escaped the Brit as he shook his head, figuring that letting Kento go on with his shouting out to nothing was better than trying to reason with him logically. The warrior of Hardrock may have wanted to fight with the Goddess, but himself and Heather didn't want to nor felt that if they had to, would be able to fight her and survive. _If you see or happen to meet up with the Goddess, don't hesitate to fight her. Do not hold back on her. Forget the fact that she wears Rylea's face, just fight her like you would if she didn't._

Ryo's voice cut into Cye's thoughts, he remembered the order their leader had given them before they had split up into groups. Even though Ryo sounded like he had meant what he had said to them, his face said otherwise. The poor guy looked so torn up about what he was actually saying to them, that no one had the heart to argue with him. Just nodded their heads to him in understanding and went off in different directions. _Poor Ryo, he's hurting over all of this more than he's letting on. I don't know if he'll even actually be able to bring himself to fight his own daughter, even though he knows it's not really her. _Cye thought to himself, a deep frown settling its self over his features.

A tingling, cold feeling ran down his spine then. Something was pawing its way through his mind, reading his thoughts. He froze mid step, already bringing up a shield to block whoever it was out of his mind and from his thoughts, but it was already too late. Whoever it was had already heard what they wanted to. He heard Kento's concerned voice from beside him, but Cye couldn't respond.

A frown settled over Kento's features as he reached out and laid his subarmored hand on Cye's shoulder, "Yo man, you ok?"

Hypnotic chuckling seemed to come from everywhere, bouncing off the walls that surrounded them and almost seemed to be echoing in their own minds. Kento growled, swirling around to find the owner of the voice. Nothing but darkness from every angle greeted him in return. Heather cowered in fear, clutching onto her uncle Cye's arm as if that some how would protect her from the person the chuckling belonged to. "The poor dear," the chuckling had now turned into a mocking, sultry voice. A form materialized from the shadows in front of them, the smile on the face of the person matching the luminescent eyes. "If he's hurting then maybe I should make that all stop for him? What do you think?"

"It's her," Cye gasped as he unknowingly took a faltering step back from not only the fierceness of her eyes but the sheer power radiating from her small form. "The Goddess!"

"Well," she chuckled out, placing one hand on her hip and a smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. "I'm so glad you remembered me. Makes me feel all warm and tingly all over."

"Oh I'll make you feel tingly Lady, once I'm through pounding the hell out of you that is," Kento threatened while cracking his knuckles, his eyes never once leaving her own.

A hypnotic chuckle escaped the girl, making her shoulders shake in mirth as she simply laughed at Kento's less than intimidating threat. Her laughter only fueled Kento's anger more though. A growl emitted from deep in his throat as he snapped at her, "Shut up!"

The laughter stopped immediately. Now with a sly smirk on her face, the Goddess set her luminescent eyes on Kento and asked sweetly, "What's the matter? You don't like being laughed at?" She chuckled in almost a tsking manner before continuing with, "And you're supposed to be the joker of the group.....That's really too bad."

"Cye, let's take her out right now, you and me. We can take her," the warrior of Hardrock said over to his brother in arms without looking away from his enemy. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, getting ready to be used when necessary.

"Kento I'm not so sure about that," Cye retorted as he eyed the girl standing before them. He could see the dark power radiating from her in dark pools, surrounding her whole form in its grasp. "She's too strong for just us two."

"It's not just us two, there's three of us Cye."

"Heather isn't as battle familiar as we are. We'd risk getting her hurt or worse by making her fight with us," Cye argued back.

"Look, Ryo told us to fight the witch if we saw her and I see her so that means we fight her," Kento shot back, finally peeling his eyes off of the Goddess standing in front of him to throw an angered glance over at his partner. That was his biggest mistake ever.

Before either of them could register what had happened, the Goddess had seemed to almost have melted back into the shadows before reappearing out of them behind Kento so fast that neither of them had known it had happened until it was too late. Shadows wrapped themselves tightly around Kento's arms, waist and legs, binding him together so tightly that he couldn't budge them loose an inch. Her grinning face now gleamed out at them from around his struggling form. "Well that was rather easy," she told them in a conversational way. "Not much fun when you don't put up a fight."

"What the hell?!" Kento shouted as he struggled to free himself from whatever had a hold of him. It was no use even for the warrior of strength.

"Heather get behind me," Cye ordered, already grasping the young warrior around the arm and forcing her behind him. Standing protectively in front of the blond girl now, he forced himself to stand up straighter, staring the Goddess down as if she wasn't getting to him in the least.

"That won't help her," was all she replied in return, a feral grin already spreading its way over her pouty lips. Before the Ronin of Torrent had time to react, shadows were lashing out from the darkness that incased the alleyway, wrapping themselves around the Lady Ronin's body and pulling her from behind him. Heather screamed in fear as she was yanked away from her uncle, the things grasping her only tightening their hold on her in response.

"Heather!" Cye shouted to her helplessly as he watched her being pulled away from him, stopping a good five feet away from him with arms bound at her sides by whatever had come from the shadows surrounding them. Amused chuckling brought his attention back onto the now approaching girl, her dress swaying as she walked and heels clicking on the pavement.

A gleeful smile had now captured her face and her looming yellowish green eyes stared him down like a cat did its prey. Her body moved in graceful, almost not touching the ground kind of steps as she walked on towards him. Before Cye could even make an attempt to move, something had already lashed out and wrapped its self around him just like it had the others. Now unable to move, the water Ronin simply watched his enemy come towards him with that sadistic smile on her face.

Goddess Rylea stopped just in front of Cye, her unearthly eyes just wavering over him for a silent moment or two, unnerving him to no end. Her hand then came up from her side, gently running through his hair as her smile widened more and she leaned her face in closer to his. "I can hear your heart beating, Ronin," she said to him, her words caressing and hypnotizing to a certain point. She traced one sharp fingernail down the side of his face and to where his heart would be, the nail scraping over the metal of his subarmor, "It goes thump thump thump, thump thump thump."

Smirking she backed away from Cye now, her eyes still staring him down as she did. The Goddess licked her lips and flicked her gaze over to Heather's silent form, a grin slipping onto her face at the fear she could feel rolling off the girl. She sucked it all in, relishing in her torment, it fueled her even more. Chuckling sweetly she said, "I hope you're not afraid to be alone in the dark, Heather of Halo." As if to show her what she was getting at, the things that held the two Ronins in their grasp pulled them into the shadows and made them disappear from sight. The two melted into the shadows and left as if they had never even been there.

Heather's light blue eyes went wide with fear as she watched her uncles disappear before her eyes. Chuckling then brought her attention back onto the person still standing in front of her. Smiling sweetly at her now, the Goddess told her pleasantly, "Hope you're not afraid of the dark," before the girl then stepped back into the shadows and left just in the same manner as her uncles had, simply almost melding into the darkness and leaving.

As soon as the Goddess had left then the things that bound Heather disappeared as well, letting her drop to the hard ground below her. Heather winced and picked herself up. Wearily she glanced around the shadows as if not totally sure that they were all gone. Turning quickly, she fled from the alleyway in search of her other teammates or just anyone she knew could help her.

"None of this is any help at all," Leinto grumbled out as he finally tore his eyes away from the mural of the Goddess of Night that he had been studying for the past twenty minutes and had found nothing resembling how to kill her. Time was steadily running out for all of them and still they had found nothing that was at least remotely helpful. The graying charge sighed and rubbed at his wrinkled face before once again turning his gaze back upon the mural before him. He was determined to find something.

Tadin ignored the charge as he looked around the large room. Somehow he had the feeling that that wasn't the only mural about the Goddess of Night. There had to be another one, the one that told of how she was stopped the first time, somewhere around here ---hidden somewhere out of sight so that no one would know about it. The hybrid's steely blue eyes came upon something, it was a sliver of what looked to be old parchment, hidden beside the enormous fireplace.

Bending down, the young man grabbed a hold of the end of the paper that was visible and pulled the rest of it out from its hiding place. Unrolling it, his eyes quickly scanned over it before they became wide and shouted over his shoulder to the old man behind him, "Hey, Leinto, I think I found what you're looking for!"

"What?" the old man replied as he turned from the mural he had been studying and quickly ambled his way over to the young man. As the boy stood, he took the old and faded parchment from his hands, his own eyes now looking over it. A smile of triumph began to spread over his face as he read it over again and again. "This is it," he finally said and looked up sharply to the blond boy, "this is what we need."

The paper looked to almost be a type of scroll, a very old and weathered scroll. Detailed pictures of the Ronin armors fighting the Goddess of Night were depicted on it. In one scene, the one scene that told Leinto all that he needed to know, it showed the Ronins calling upon a white armor and then the owner of that armor somehow willing it onto the Goddess. The scene below that showed the Goddess being dispelled back into her world, becoming locked away for all time.

Tadin looked up at the old man, a frown now consuming his face as he watched him reading over the pictures. "So how do we stop her?" he asked him.

"Well in this, the Ronins stopped her by using the power of the Inferno armor to send her back into her own world, inevitably trapping her there as well. Rylea is the only one who can forth the armor of Inferno, but as long as the Goddess has control of that, she can't on her own free will," the charge began to explain to the blond boy beside him.

"So, if she can't call on the Inferno armor, doesn't that mean that we're basically screwed?"

"Not exactly," Leinto replied as he rolled up the scroll. "I have an idea that just might work. Rylea is not dead, not able to control her own body, but she is not dead. That means the armor will still react to her. I just hope that what I have planned will actually work. It might be our only chance."

"What's your plan?" the hybrid now asked while following along behind the charge as they left the room they had once been standing in. Now they were headed back out of the temple, back towards the mortal world where they needed to be.

"You will see," was all Leinto replied as he and the hybrid Tadin walked from the temple and headed back for the portal into the mortal world. Time was running out fast along with any hope of stopping the Goddess before her plans for the mortal world became true. A frown settled over the aging man's face as he thought. _Even if we stop this Goddess, Rylea will always be evil. Getting rid of the Goddess will not rid her of that demonic side of her. Rylea will always be a hybrid, a half demon._ He sighed heavily at his musing while himself and the blond boy walked through the portal and back into the mortal world.

****

A/N:Ok, well we're nearly there. And for once, I don't really have a whole lot to say. Big shocker. Anywho, thanks go out this time to MorganRay, a very good writer who I recommend all of you to read her stories. And my new reviewer, LG! Thanks so much chica for your review and all the nice things that you have said not only bout sif and mines site but my stories as well. Muchos gracias, mi amigas! Last but not least, thanks to Rogue who graciously agreed to help me with the Latin. You're the coolest Rogue! Anywho, another exciting chap to come soon.


	21. Chapter 20

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Chapter 20

::July 25::

Darkness was everywhere. It covered the streets, the buildings and even the ground they walked on. The sky its self was even black, pitch black like everything else around them. The little light they had came from the streetlights they passed under now and again. An eerie, still feeling seemed to hang in the air, consuming everything around it within its grasp. The clanking sound of their feet stepping on the pavement echoed around them as Ryo, Sage and Rowen walked down the silent back streets leading into the city.

"It's quiet," Rowen's voice finally broke the silence that clung to everything around them with his observation. His eyes wearily flicked over the surrounding area, searching for anything out of the ordinary.

"Yeah," Sage's voice replied back, his head focused away from Rowen as he added, "A little too quiet if you ask me."

Ryo rolled his tiger blue eyes at the two, a slight chuckle escaping the Ronin leader as he said, "Guys, maybe that's because it's a little after one in the morning."

A thoughtful look fell over the two Ronin's faces as they took in what he said in retort. True it was early in the morning and all normal people would be asleep, but this was no ordinary night. A demonic Goddess roamed these streets, wearing the face of a familiar person, hell bent on taking over the mortal world. With that little tid bit of knowledge wearing heavily on your mind, you didn't take anything too lightly.

"So," Rowen started up a conversation once again as they walked along the back pathway. "You think Leinto and Tadin found the answer to our problem yet?"

Sage sighed heavily before he replied, "I hope so. I mean, we've fought just demonic Rylea and it wasn't easy, the girl was near to impossible to land a hit on.....Makes you wonder just how strong she is now that the Goddess has control of her."

"The girl wasn't just strong, Sage, she was fearless and didn't really care what happened to herself or to anyone else. She stared down my arrow for heaven sake and actually ordered me to let it go on her! The girl was just scary!"

"Would you two stop referring to her in the past tense!" Ryo's angered and yet emotional outburst stopped Rowen and Sage in their tracks. Both Ronins now stared at their leader, regarding him cautiously, the look on his face making them both question whether he was about to break down into tears or go psycho on them. Ryo did neither. The Ronin leader simply sighed as he ran a hand through his wild black hair and looked down at the pavement below him while saying, "I'm sorry you guys, it's just-"

A small smile spread over Sage's face as he replied while laying a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about it, Ryo. We understand, we're fathers too after all."

"Yeah, but we didn't mean to refer to her in that manner.... We, we were just meaning how she was before, well....You know," Rowen stammered out, trying to smooth things over on the touchy subject with the hot headed man.

Ryo shook his head, a smile now coming to his face as he waved the two off. "It's ok guys," he said while now turning to continue on down the alleyway. "Let's just get moving." The warrior of Wildfire stopped dead in his tracks as he turned around and his eyes came to rest on the one person he thought he wouldn't see, had hoped he wouldn't have to see ---Rylea.

The demonic Goddess chuckled lightly as she uncrossed her legs from in front of her and pushed herself away from the wall of the building she had been leaning on. Her head swayed from side to side to knock the long, shaggy hair off her shoulders as she walked towards them, a dangerous smile playing on her lips. "Well hello Ronins," she said to them pleasantly and then opened her eyes to reveal the luminescent, almost cat like, eyes instead of her carrier's vivid blue ones. "So nice to you see all again."

He couldn't move. It was almost as if she had paralyzed him to the ground he stood on by just looking at him, even though Ryo knew that wasn't the case. He could now feel his friends come up on either side of him, but he couldn't make himself look over at them ---his eyes were now glued to the form approaching them. Ryo wasn't prepared for all the chaotic emotions that were running through him now, grief, anger, happiness --- the sudden urge to run and grab his daughter up into his arms and tell her how sorry he was while telling her over and over again that everything was going to be fine. He couldn't though and Ryo knew that.

A slow, sadistic, almost gleeful smirk spread its way across the Goddess' lips as Ryo's grief filled thoughts ran through her mind. She chuckled lightly and said while fixing her eyes on Ryo, "Everything isn't going to be ok, Ryo of Wildfire." The Goddess laughed more now, that slow, hypnotic laugh, seemingly thinking that what she had told him was funny in someway or another.

Ryo growled now at the mocking demoness, his hands balling into fists at his side to keep his temper at bay. "What did you do to my daughter?" he asked from behind gritted teeth.

"Oh, let me think here for a minute," the Goddess replied as she began to tap her finger against her lips as if she were thinking about something. Snapping her fingers she then said, "Oh yes, I remember what I did with her now. I locked her away, far away, in a cold, dark place for all eternity."

Her eyes turned hard and seemed to flicker in the darkness as she added in a cold, stony voice, "Just like you Ronin Warriors did to me."

"Look Lady, we had nothing to do with that. We don't even wear the same armor as they had when you were stopped from creating chaos on Earth the first time!" Ryo shouted angrily back at her and Sage and Rowen nodded their heads firmly in agreement with their leader from either side of Ryo.

A chuckle shook the Goddess' shoulders as she laughed at their words. She shook her head like a parent does when they're exasperated with explaining things to a child, her unruly dark hair swinging around her shoulders and smiled wickedly. "Doesn't matter," the Goddess Rylea stated to them in a conversational way. "Doesn't matter whether you have the same armor or not, you all still look the same as you did when I first tried to take over the mortal world." Looking directly at Ryo now she added, "Especially you, Hariel. You and your white armor were what sealed me away."

"I'm sorry?" Sage chuckled out as he looked from his leader to the demonic girl standing before them. "You think Ryo is Hariel?"

"_Non inquit_?" the Goddess asked in her native tongue then repeated in their language, "Is he not?"

Rowen blinked several times as he cautiously surveyed the enemy standing just a few feet in front of them. She had been brought back from where ever she had been sealed away to and now thought that not only were they the same Ronin Warriors who had once before locked her away, but that Ryo was Hariel himself? "Look, Ryo isn't Hariel and we are not the same Ronin Warriors who defeated you the first time. Those guys are dead now and have been for some time."

"_Praeter insidior ut servo ipsmet_," she spat at them angrily once again in her own language and then replied in a language they would understand, "I tire of your lies so I'll just get down to the real reason why I decided to show myself to you all."

"And that would be why?" the warrior of Halo asked of the Goddess, an uneasy feeling now starting to settle in the pit of his stomach.

The Goddess smiled wickedly over in his direction as she replied, "I have your friends Hardrock and Torrent."

"What?!" all three warriors replied in unison with a startled and yet surprised gasp.

Her smile grew even more now. Their reactions thrilled her. Beginning to slowly walk backwards away from the three Ronin Warriors, the Goddess said, "I'll be waiting in the park in Toyama. Find your other little friends and meet me there before 2:15 or I'll kill them both. _Adeo, Ronin Warriors."_ With her speech to them finished, the Goddess then melted into the shadows surrounding her, leaving no trace that she was ever there as she left.

"Wait! Don't go yet!" Ryo shouted after her but the Goddess was already gone. He cursed and swore angrily as Sage and Rowen watched him with a weary eye.

"Dad!" someone shouted from behind them, footsteps now clanging down the alleyway towards them and alerted the three warriors to another's presence. Turning around, they found the four Lady Ronins running towards them and immediately a sense of relief washed over Rowen and Sage at the sight of them.

"Hey, you four ok?" Sage asked as they stopped before them, panting as if they had just run from half way across town.

"The...Goddess...." Rona panted out as she tried to catch her breath.

"She...took...uncle Kento...and uncle Cye," Heather finished for her as she took in huge gulps of air to fill her lungs with.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ryo now said soothingly to the four girls as he walked up to them, a frown covering his face. "Take it easy you guys, we already know."

"How?" Keish now put in as she stood up straight, her breathing now back to its regular rhythm.

A smirk consumed Rowen's face as he replied, "We just had our own little run in with her," then a frown replaced his smirk as he got a look at the, what appeared to be, claw marks on Kami's neck. Walking over to the small girl he tipped her head gently to the side and surveyed her neck better while saying, "What happened, Kami?"

"That witch got her," Keish growled out, tightening her hands at her sides as the memory of what just recently had happened to herself and her two other friends burned brightly in her mind. She hated the fact that she had been totally helpless to do anything for Kami.

Rowen nodded his head absently as he continued to survey them, making sure that there was no real damage done to anything. "Well she should be fine," he replied finally while letting go of Kami's chin and glanced over at the other two adults over his shoulder. "No real damage was done so you don't have to heal her, Sage."

The blond nodded absently to him. A deep frown now had crossed its way over Ryo's face as he thought and contemplated their options. They had to save Kento and Cye even if they could be and probably was, walking right into a trap set by the Goddess. There was no other choice. Time was running out and they still had the added pressure of stopping and saving Rylea. The warrior of virtue sighed as he finally came to a decision. "Come on guys," he said while turning and beginning to jog in the direction the park, centered in the heart of Toyama City was. "We have three people to save."

"What? Ryo are you joking?" Rowen's startled and confused reply rang in the air as he and the rest of the small group began to follow their leader. "Shouldn't we wait for Leinto and Tadin?"

"There's no time for that," the Ronin leader replied from over his shoulder as he continued on. His sights were set on the park where he knew his daughter and his two friends were waiting for him to help them and nothing was going to stop him now.

Sage and Rowen glanced at each other, sighing as they both knew what was running through their leader's mind and followed after him. The girls followed after the Ronins, not sure what was going on but figured that sticking with them was better then being left alone. They weren't sure how they were supposed to save their two uncles without the help of Leinto and Tadin but trusted that their uncle Ryo would think of something.

The trees swayed silently in the light breeze that kicked up, sending leaves to fall onto the eerily black ground below them. The sweet smell of sakura petals and flowers filled the air as the breeze blew over the gardens in the park. Swings swung lightly without an occupant, the chains holding them up creaking shrilly. Blackness had incased everything. Street lamps surrounding the area had suddenly gone black as if the bulbs had either burned out or been turned off, the shadows that were now sent free crawled and covered everything around it.

The streets surrounding the park were deserted ---no cars, no people, no animals, nothing. It almost had the feeling of a ghost town. The only thing that separated it from a ghost town was the fact that the city its self still had power and seemed to be alive. The lights coming from signs, street lights, or a few passing cars now and again cast an eerie glow over the dark park; illuminating the contents within it briefly.

"Foolish humans," the Goddess proclaimed as she looked out at the city before her, a smirk seeming to tug at the corner of her mouth the more she stared. A slight chuckle escaped her now, "Soon, very soon, my dream will become reality and no longer will these stupid humans inhabit this world."

The Goddess turned then from the gleaming city before her, her eyes luminescent and looming as she walked towards her two captives. Hardrock and Torrent hung by their wrists from the monkey bars of the jungle gym, pointlessly trying to free themselves from their bonds. She had to laugh at how stupid they were. Humans. Stupid humans who would go to any lengths to save there own pointless lives no matter what. "Save your strength," she said to them in her sultry, hypnotic voice. "You'll need it, trust me on that."

"Go to hell bitch!" Kento shouted out angrily at the female demon. He now twisted and waggled, trying to get himself free with not much luck. Giving up he growled in aggravation and set glaring eyes on her.

Goddess Rylea merely closed her eyes and chuckled lightly, almost mockingly, at Kento while she stepped slowly over in his direction. Now in front of him she reached up and grabbed a hand full of his hair, painfully pulling it to make his head come down level with hers. She smiled in glee as he gasped in pain. "You see here's the thing," she started and then snapped her glowing, and luminescent eyes open and stared into his blue ones. "I've already been to hell. Want me to show you what it's like?"

Kento tried to shake his head no but couldn't with success because her hand was still grasping tightly onto his hair. Grinning now, the Goddess released him and watched as Kento leaned his head as far away from her as possible now. "You humans," Goddess Rylea started with a mocking tone, "You may be stupid and inferior to us, but at least you know when to obey your master like the good dogs you all are."

"Dogs?!" the warrior of Hardrock snarled out at her, now infuriated once again with this demoness. "We ain't dogs!"

Goddess Rylea simply smirked back at Kento as she then turned her gaze onto the warrior of Torrent who quietly was taking everything in. A smile captured her lips as she stepped over to him now, "Well what's the matter, Torrent? You haven't said a word the whole time you've been here."

Cye only glared back at the demoness with the most hatred filled glare that he could. Opening his mouth now, he finally spat at her, "Ryo will come for us. Him and the others will find us and when they get here, you'd better hope for a quick death Lady."

The Goddess erupted into a fit of chilling laugher at Cye's proclaim. Having to actually lay her hand on his shoulder while she laid her head against his chest as she laughed to keep herself standing. Cye and Kento exchanged glances now, not sure what to take of her sudden outburst. Her laughter finally fell to simple chuckling as she brought her head up, wiping at the corners of her eyes and looked directly into Cye's eyes. "I'm counting on Hariel coming for me," she told him and then added as she got closer up in his face. "I want him to."

Cye leaned back from the sheer fierceness of her eyes while saying, "What do you have planned?"

"You'll just have to wait and find out," she replied and then her eyes darted over her shoulder, a smirk curling its way over her lips as she added, "Looks like you'll find out sooner than you think."

Seven figures walked through the darkness incased park, heading towards where they could not only sense their friends but also barely see the outline of them thanks to the lights coming from the city all around them. Ryo led the small group, his face now hard and emotionless as he came up into the clearing of the park where the playground equipment was situated. Sage walked close behind him on his left side with Rowen walking close behind on his right side. The Lady Ronins tagged along behind the adults.

"So glad you all could make it," the Goddess said pleasantly to the warriors behind her before she chuckled and turned around to face them all now. "Too bad you won't be staying around for long."

"This ends now," Ryo replied in a stony voice that matched the look on his face. His vivid blues stood out oddly in the darkness all around him.

"Yes it does," Goddess Rylea replied almost un amused and her eyes narrowed as her attack came out of no where.

The darkness that had covered them all now closed in around them, wrapping themselves around the warriors tightly and binding their arms at their sides. With a flick of her hand she had pulled the Lady Ronins from behind the Ronins and thrown them heedlessly to the side. Next both her arms came up, going to either side of her as both the Ronins were thrown from beside Ryo, almost as if she were parting the rest aside to get to who she really wanted. Ryo didn't move though, he didn't even make an effort to loosen himself from what imprisoned him. The Ronin leader simply stood where he had been, with the same stony look on his face.

The Goddess laughed happily as she clasped her hands together, "This is just so much fun!" Then her expression became somewhat serious as she stepped toward the Ronin leader. Her eyes flicked momentarily to the darkness behind him before a smile came to her face and she got right up in Ryo's face. "There's someone I'm just dying to introduce you to, Hariel," she said happily while grabbing a hold of Ryo's chin and turned his head in the direction a breathless Tadin had now come up in. "Our little traitor, Tadin."

The hybrid regarded the Goddess uneasily now as he straightened himself back up to his full height. His steely blue eyes had now gone luminescent as well in the darkness. Goddess Rylea put on a serious face as she turned back to Ryo, looking him dead in the eyes now as she talked, her hand still gripping his chin to keep him eye level with her, "You see, there's something you need to know about our little buddy, Tadin." Her eyes now turned out to look onto the hybrid while shaking here head from side to side as she said, "He's been a bad, bad, boy."

Tadin remained quiet as the Goddess went on, "You see, Tadin here, was the one who was sent by Sirous to capture Rylea. Supposed to bring her back to Sirous and gain a wealthy prize and glory for it." Her eyes now flicked upon Ryo's face, wanting to see what kind of emotion was showing there. A smile came to her face as she found the man's eyes narrowing more and more at the blond demon. "He was working to bring about your daughter's demise the whole time," the Goddess whispered to Ryo as she leaned her face in close to his ear. A growl came from the Ronin leader as his eyes narrowed even more at the hybrid.

Tadin said nothing still in either is own defense or to confirm what the Goddess was saying. Goddess Rylea now let go of Ryo's chin to begin walking out towards the hybrid. A thoughtful look claiming her face as she began to tap her lip while she talked, "You see, what I don't understand, is why you didn't follow through with it. I mean, you had a great plan and even had her right where you wanted her and still.....You didn't do it." She now stopped walking, her gaze falling upon Tadin's form as she said, "Then I understood everything once I had gotten a look into the girl's memories. You had fallen for her. You let yourself become emotionally involved with her and you fell for the girl."

All eyes turned on Tadin now, waiting for him to say something, but still the hybrid stood where he was, not saying a word. The goddess chuckled as she walked up to him, looking up into Tadin's eyes as she goaded him, "Tell me, what was it about her that made you fall for her? Was it the eyes? What about her could have possibly made you turn traitor on us? On your own people!" Tadin again remained quiet and this only irritated the Goddess more. A frown fell over her face as she began to circle around the young man like an animal does its prey while saying, "You know, it was really stupid to turn traitor, Tadin. I really could have used someone like you at my side when I take over this world, but.... Now I'll have to kill you instead."

"They will stop you," Tadin now said, his silence finally broken as he glared down at the Goddess who had finally stopped once again in front of him.

"I doubt that very highly," she retorted with a mocking smile. "They can't beat me, isn't that right, Sirous?"

The purebred's towering form materialized behind the Goddess as if beckoned by her, a mocking smile on his looming features. His gray eyes now turned luminescent bore into Tadin's own as he replied, "That's right, my Goddess."

"How could you, Tadin?!" Rona now shouted out at the blond hybrid, but he didn't even look over at her. "Lea trusted you! We all did! And you were really against her, all of us all this time?"

Keish's eyes narrowed as she added, "I don't know how you can live with yourself."

Tadin said nothing, simply swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and kept his eyes pointed on anything but the faces of the people who surrounded him. He couldn't bring himself to look at any of them. He knew that what he had done was wrong and he hated himself for it. Hated the fact that he had hurt Rylea the way he had, the one true friend he had ever had. The one person who he had ever really cared about, but this was his way of making up for it. This was what he had to do to make up for all the wrongdoing he had done. Helping the enemy, the Ronins and Lady Ronins, was the way to redemption for his wrongs.

"You're all going to die," the Goddess said cheerily around to everyone, Ronin or Lady, her smile enough to make them all sick. Their feelings only made her stronger. She chuckled sweetly as she now bounced happily over to Ryo, grabbing a hold of the shaggy hair of his head and pulling him down eye level with her once again. Silently she just looked at him, stared him down like a dog while a gleeful smile played over her face. "How does it feel?" she finally asked him in a voice barely above a whisper. "How does it feel to be looking into the face of someone you love dearly and know that that person is gone? How does it feel to know that your life is about to be ended by this same person? How does it feel to know that you've failed?! You failed, you failed your daughter, your friends, everyone!"

Straining against the pain that shot through his head at his hair being pulled down sharply, Ryo looked into the luminescent eyes of the Goddess who hid behind his daughter's face. His daughter's smiling, once happy face, now corrupted and being used as a mask for someone to hide behind. Anger ran through Ryo, griped his every fiber of his being within its grasp. Fueled him, burned within him like a raging fire. From behind gritted teeth he replied with dangerously narrowed eyes, "I haven't failed anyone, not yet. You haven't won."

A wicked smile spread its way over the Goddess' face as she replied, "Oh yes I have," and then pulled a small dagger from the back of her dress, the dagger extending into a sword at her touch. "Goodbye, Wildfire," she said to him before plunging the blade of the sword deep into his stomach, through the metal of his subarmor and almost all the way out the other end.

Gasps and screams of no came from all around the park as everyone watched with wide eyes as the leader of the Ronins was stabbed, his eyes becoming large as the blade ran through him and he coughed, blood coming from his mouth. The Goddess grinned more as she extracted the blade from Ryo and watched as he sank to his knees before falling face first into the ground. Dropping the sword beside his fallen form she then turned and smiled out at everyone else. "The leader of the Ronins is dead and soon you all will follow him," she told them all, her tone cheerful and yet mocking them all at the same time.

Angry, hot tears gripped the eyes of everyone around the Goddess as they tore them from the fallen form of their comrade, uncle and brother in arms. The thumping sound of a staff hitting the ground brought everyone's attention over to the last person who had yet to show. Leinto now stood at the edge of everyone, his wrinkled face looking flushed from all the running he had been doing. His gray eyes flicked upon Ryo's fallen form and then up onto the Goddess. "Your time is up, Goddess. Rylea will be set free and you will go back to the dark depths of which you came from!"

Reaching into the pocket of his robe he hurriedly pulled from it Rylea's fire pendant and armor orb ---dropping a silver pendant onto the ground in his rush. Immediately the fire pendant began to glow a bright red while it came to life, crackling and thrumming like a real fire. The pendant now soared through the air, connected around Rylea's neck and began to glow even more. The Goddess gasped, as she became frozen to the ground, unable to move or do anything. Her captives were then freed, being let fall back to the ground from whatever had been holding them. Immediately Sage and the rest of the Ronins ran to Ryo's fallen form, trying to save him before he was truly gone.

Now with the fire pendant clasped around Rylea's neck the Wildfire armor orb began to glow and then shot from Leinto's hand, aiming its self at Rylea. Without stopping it ran right into her, disappearing within her body its self. Instantly the girl began to glow a bright red color as the Goddess screamed in agony. With his task now done, Leinto now started for the fallen body of Ryo. He had to save the Ronin leader before it was too late and he was the only one who could now. A dark form moved in front of Leinto, cutting him off before he could go for Ryo.

"Where do you think you're going old man?" the cold voice of Sirous asked of the charge.

"Get away from him Sirous!" Tadin shouted as he ran towards the purebred, sword already unsheathed from his back and being aimed down at him. Sirous simply moved out of the way as the hybrid now stood protectively in front of the charge. "Move it, Leinto! Get to Ryo, go!" he shouted back at him as his eyes stayed focused on Sirous. The charge nodded and took off for Ryo.

The Goddess Rylea screamed more as the bright red color surrounding her body intensified, the outline of the Wildfire armor now surrounding her body. Without warning the subarmored girls then became clad in full armor without having to call upon it before then beginning to glow the color of their armor. Surprised and now not knowing what to do the girls simply stood where they were, letting the armors do whatever they had to do. With a burst of energy then, power from their own armor was dispersed and headed for the body of Rylea. Each brightly glowing ball of energy sank into her one at a time and then an even brighter flash of light occurred, blinding all of them temporarily. When they looked back, the outline of the Wildfire armor had been replaced with the outline of the Inferno armor. The girl screamed more as the power filled her body, forcing the entity within her out. The burning power of the Inferno ripped throughout her whole body until finally the Goddess had been forced from her. A black cloud of smoke seemed to seep from Rylea's body now, disappearing into the darkness of the night.

Leinto rushed to the side of Ryo, pushing everyone else around him away as he rolled him onto his back. Ignoring their shouts and questions as to what he thought he was doing, the charge laid his hands upon Ryo's wound and began to glow a golden color. Closing his eyes he focused his powers onto the wound and Ryo himself, the golden color surrounding him flowing from around Leinto's body and into and around Ryo's body and wounds. Everyone standing around the charge watched in awe as to what he was doing. The glowing had stopped now as Leinto opened his eyes and stood, looking out now at what was going on with the girls he was charge over.

The glowing now stopped as Rylea's body returned to its normal state. The Wildfire orb appeared from out of her body and hovered in front of her before falling to the ground below the girl. Her eyes now weakly fluttered open, blinking a few times to clear her vision as she looked around at her surroundings and the people around her. "Where- .... Where am I?" she asked in complete confusion and then her eyes fell upon her father's fallen form. Gasping she ran to him, dropping to her knees beside her father, tears coming to her eyes when she found his still form laying on the ground. Fear gripped every part of her being as she looked at him. The last person she had, the last parent she had left, the one person she loved more than anyone else in this world she feared now was gone. Gone forever just like her mother.

With tears falling from her eyes and hitting the metal of his subarmor she leaned over him and croaked out, "Dad?" No response came from him and already some of the people standing around her were beginning to lower their heads in respect to him or turn away with tears in their eyes. She refused to give up. Rylea wasn't going to lose her father, not him, not like she lost her mother. "Daddy wake up! Wake up!" she shouted at him, shaking him roughly to try and rouse him but no response came.

"Come on Lea," she heard her uncle Sage say quietly from behind her as he tried to pull her away from her father but she knocked his hands away from her as she continued to shake her father, tears falling freely down her face.

"No!" Rylea shouted in agony, now banging her hands on the chest of his subarmor. She began to shake him again while yelling, "You can't leave me! You can't! Don't leave me! Please daddy don't!"

Sage's near to tears face looked up at his best friend Rowen for help, but Rowen didn't know what to do. Rylea now laid her face down in the crook of her father's neck, latching her arms tightly around him in way of showing that she wasn't going to leave him. Heart wrenching sobs came from the poor girl as she cried into her father's neck. "You promised," she sobbed into his neck, hiccupping now to keep breathing. "You promised you'd never leave me like mommy did. You promised."

"And I always keep my promises."

Rylea pulled back, her red and puffy eyes staring down into her father's face as his voice rang in her ears. A happy gasp and cheers began to ring around them as Rylea broke into a smile at the sight of her father's mirror image eyes looking back up at her. "Daddy!" she cried happily while enveloping him into a tight hug.

Ryo sat up now, wrapping his arms tightly around his daughter as he kissed the side of her head again and again while tears of joy slid down his face. He had his daughter back, he hadn't failed her, and now she was back. A clock somewhere chimed 2:15 as everyone else around them, including Leinto, now joined in, hugging both Wildfire's or patting their shoulders with happy smiles all of their own. Relief flowed through everyone, Ryo had been saved and Rylea had been set free from the Goddess' control. It was over, finally, it was all over and now they could go on living their lives knowing that they had survived their first battle. The hardest battle either party had ever been in, they had survived. The Goddess was gone, sent back to where she came from and the threat was gone...... Or was it?

****

A/N: Wow....finally, I have almost finished this thing. One more short chapter and this whole thing will be over! Yey! Heh, and I don't know about all of you guys who read this....But I actually started crying while I was writing this chapter. :: And I'm the author! I know what's going to happen and I started crying! But yeah, anyway, Special thanks time once again. Thanks go out to LG, MorganRay and a double thanks to Rogue who helped me also with the latin. Thanks you guys!


	22. Epilogue

Epilogue

"Happy birthday Rylea!" everyone shouted as the girl came into her house, her home, the place she belonged. An astonished looking Rylea stared around at her family, her friends, the people she trusted and loved as the confetti was thrown and poppers were popped all around her. A happy, angelic smile claimed the girl's face as everything that was going on set in finally. The Sanada girl now looked like her normal, carefree, innocent self as she glanced around at all the people pilled into her house. Gone were the demonic persona, the mocking smile, and the evil glow that had once claimed her whole.

The girl now whirled around on the tall blond boy behind her, his smile saying enough for her. She pointed an accusing finger up into his face, or as close as she could get to it, a laughing smirk now on her face as she said, "You knew, didn't you? All this time you knew all about this, didn't you Hojo?"

The Date boy simply smiled down at the dark haired girl, amused by her as he winked back and replied, "I ain't telling."

Laughs and chuckles erupted from the crowd of people now. Rona, Keish, Kami and Heather emerged from the hoard of people, mostly adults or near to it, smiling broadly at their friend. The cuts had healed, the wounds they had obtained from the battle had now faded along with the emotional wounds they had all endured from fighting a friend, a sister, a loved one. Gone were the stressed, tired, determined faces, but in its leave smiling, happy faces had now returned. Back was the once happy, normal, teenagers just trying to survive school.

"Smile, Lea!" Keish called out to her as she produced a camera, holding it now up to her face as she began to focus in the picture.

Rylea's attention was then diverted from the blond young man behind her to her friends and the camera Keish was now holding up. With her finger still pointing accusingly up into the face of the Date boy she plastered her sweet, angelic smile onto her face for the camera. A flash went off and the moment was caught on film, a picture, another point in her life. The moment captured forever on a piece of paper. Another memento, another thing to look back on and reminisce about.

Ryo now stepped from the group, a warm smile on his face as he extended his arm out to his daughter. The same arm he had held out to her before, had reached out to her with, begging the girl to take and come back to him. Now he wrapped that arm around his daughter's shoulders, hugging her close to him as he smiled down at her. Gone was the hard, emotionless face he had once hid behind while fighting her or more like the person who had taken control of her. Now in its leave there was nothing but joy, love and happiness masking his face.

"Come on jouchan, I think there's a cake that awaits a certain someone to blow out the candles on it," he said down to his female twin, hugging her closer to him as he lead her into the kitchen. The girl simply wrapped an arm around her father's waist, following him into the kitchen where her birthday cake awaited her.

"Yeah," Rowen now joked as he stole a glance over at the ash-blue haired man known as Kento, a grin now consuming his face as he said, "You'd better hurry up and blow out those candles fast before your uncle Kento dive bombs the cake."

"Hardy har har," came Kento's less than amused response and stuck his middle finger up at the blue haired Rowen as he passed him on his way into the kitchen.

Rowen blinked at the gesture and chuckled slightly, glancing over his shoulder at the blond haired man coming up behind him, "Is he allowed to do that?" he asked while pointing out to Kento.

Sage shrugged light heartedly to his best friend, a smile coming to his face as he came up beside him. The bruises he had obtained from fighting demonic Rylea had now disappeared, along with any other traces of the battle. He now was back to looking like he had just stepped off the cover of GQ or some other ritzy magazine. "Don't know, but he did it," he replied while knocking the stray bangs that hung over his right eye away, only to have it fall right back into place.

"Bloody hell, Kento! Let the girl at least blow out the candles first before you start to devour my cake!" Cye's British voice rang through the house.

All were now gathered around the small table in the kitchen, Rylea standing at the head of the table, a lavishly decorated cake placed before her with fifteen candles lit brightly on the top. Cye now had his arms wrapped tightly around the bigger man, trying with all his might to keep his best friend from grabbing the cake. Ryo chuckled at his two friends, not much had changed with them. The girl standing in front of him simply smiled with amusement at her two uncles.

Chuckling, Ryo placed his hands on his daughter's shoulders and leaned his head down close to her ear as he said, "Better hurry up and make your wish and blow out the candles Lea, or you might not have a cake once your hard head uncle gets a hold of it."

The girl spoken to simply laughed at what her father had said as she nodded her head in agreement. Closing her eyes now, she began to ponder on what to wish for. What could she wish for? She had everything she could ever want ---a loving family, friends, a warm house to come home to...... Everything but the attendance of one certain person. Deciding on her wish, Rylea opened her eyes again and then bent down and with one big blow, blew out all her candles.

Clapping came from around the room as the now blown out candles began to smoke and the lights came back on. With the candles now blown out, the cake was whisked away to be cut and dispersed amongst the fifteen plus people there. Presents now filled the table, brightly wrapped, beautiful packages that had been picked out and wrapped with love and care by its givers.

Leinto's form now materialized into the kitchen. His staff was gone, along with his usual robes, and instead he was now dressed in casual clothes for his age group. He looked more like an elderly grandfather attending his granddaughter's birthday party then a charge that was mentoring five armor bearing young girls. A smile lit his wrinkled and weathered face as he asked, "What did you wish for, Rylea?"

"Leinto she can't tell you or else it won't come true," Keish replied for her friend as she came up beside her charge. Smiling and winking over at Rylea she added, "Don't you know that?"

"Yeah," Kami's sweet voice now entered into the conversation as she came up on the other side of the charge, a smile on her pretty face. "You don't want to ruin it for her, do you Leinto?"

Rylea chuckled as she waved her friends off. "Aw guys it's ok," she said and then a smirk claimed her face as she then looked up to her charge while saying, "You wanna know what I wished for, Leinto?" Without waiting for a nod or the shake of his head no, the girl went on to say, "I wished that you would stop calling us the Lady Ronins and call something more fresh.... Something new.... Something that sounds like it's from this time."

A pondering look fell over the small girl's face as she began to think on what the charge could in turn call them. Snapping her fingers as a name came to her she then blurted out, "I know! Why not call us the Roninettes? Sounds a lot better than Lady Ronins, if you ask me."

"Roninettes?" Leinto repeated the name with a raised eyebrow, confused by why she would pick a name like that.

"I like it," Rona now chimed in, coming up to join her other two friends by Leinto.

"Yeah, plus it's shorter than Lady Ronins. Doesn't make us sound like we're back in the feudal Japan era," Heather now put in as well, her blond haired self popping up on the other side of Kami.

Leinto nodded his head in thought as he took in what all the girls were saying about the new name. He himself had no problem with it. What did he care about the name they wanted to go by? "Alright then," he conceited with a smile on his face in the dark haired girl's direction, "I'll make your wish come true and start calling you all the Roninettes." A cheer came from the girls at his declaration and the Ronins simply gave each other sideways glances at the new name their daughters had chosen to call themselves.

"Wait!" came the voice of a woman as the front door being open and closed sounded. Footsteps sounded as a heavily breathing Saksai came around the corner and into the kitchen, adding one more person into the sea of people who claimed the house. Her beginning to wrinkle face held a beaming smile as her arms carried at least three presents in them. Handing the presents off to the nearest person to her, who happened to be Sage, she held her arms out wide and said, "Where's my little honey child?"

A smile claimed Rylea's face at the entrance of the woman and she ran to her, throwing her arms tightly around the old woman's waist as she hugged her. "Saki you came!" she said to the woman while still hugging her tightly.

Saksai smiled sweetly, that grandmotherly sweet kind of smile as she hugged the girl back. "Did you think I wouldn't?" she replied with a slight chuckle and then removed her self from Rylea's grasp. "Let me a get a look at you," Saksai said as she looked down at the smaller girl, her hand lovingly brushing the girls unruly bangs from her bright blue eyes. Cupping her face gently in-between the palms of her hands she smiled at her and said, "My, my, child, you sure have gotten older. I can see it in your eyes. You're not my little Lea-chan anymore."

Rylea rolled her eyes as she grumbled, "Please, Saki, not you too. Don't start with the 'you're not my little' anything speech. I've had to listen to that from my Dad one too many times today."

The woman chuckled as she released Rylea from her hold only to then wrap her arms around the girl as she lead her back over to the table. Sage followed after her, a smirk on his handsome face as he carried the presents that had been thrust into his chest by the woman and set them down on the table along with the others. Everyone gathered around the table again, plates with cake in hand as they watched the girl begin to open her presents.

Tadin watched from afar, like he always had. Watched everything like an outsider, wishing that he could join in but knew that that would be a mistake. He was, just that, an outsider to them all. He was the enemy, not a friend and enemies didn't come to their foes' birthday party. Why had he come then? He didn't know. For some reason, even though he knew that him helping them to defeat the Goddess hadn't changed their minds about him, Tadin felt compelled to be here today. He had to see her, wanted to see her. Seeing her smiling, happy face surrounded by friends as she opened presents and laughed and joked with everyone made him feel good deep down. It made him almost not evil, like he was a human as well.

A small smile came to the blond man's face as he watched Rylea. She had changed him. He was the one who had been set out to change her and in the end she had changed him. No longer did he feel the same way about life and people in general. No longer did he feel as though his life had no meaning or purpose, that he was just an outcast, an evil being who's one purpose in life was to help out those who wanted to spread there evil. Rylea had shown him that sometimes people could look past all that and see the real person behind the mask. She'd wanted to still be around him, possibly even be with him, even after she had learned of what he was and then Tadin had turned around and destroyed all of that with one mistake. One stupid mistake that had been started by a demon but ended by a human.

The blond haired man longed for her. Longed for her touch, to talk to her, missed her smile and sarcasm. He missed her. Tadin turned his head away from the party he was observing through a window, an outsider looking in once again. Nothing was ever going to change or make right what had happened between them and it was time that he came to terms with that and moved on. Becoming a stalker wasn't going to solve it either.

Tadin stepped from the window now and pulled a silver pendant from his black trench coat pocket. Her pendant, Rylea's mother's pendant, the same pendant she never took off ---he held in his hand, the last thing he had of her. Closing his hand around the necklace briefly he bent by the door and laid it down on the doormat before standing once again. Glancing one last time at the door that separated him from the girl he cared deeply for, Tadin then forced himself to turn and walk away from the house.

A door opened behind him and Tadin froze, hoping to whatever God was in heaven that it wasn't Ryo Sanada who had opened it. Then the sound of, "Leaving again?" floated to his ears and he immediately knew who the person was without turning around. A smile came to his face at her voice but he kept his back to her as he replied, "Yeah, I have to."

"No you don't," came the stern reply from Rylea.

Tadin whirled around now, confusion written over his face as he looked back up the porch steps to the smiling girl who stood there. Her bright blue eyes twinkled at him, lit up by her angelic smile and Tadin felt his heart leap for her. "What?" he asked back, unable to say anything else.

Rylea chuckled softly as she walked down the steps of the porch, stopping at the bottom of them and looked up into the face of Tadin. There was no anger, no hatred, no disgust on her pretty face just happiness at seeing him. Happiness? Tadin was even more confused now. He thought for sure that if she ever saw him again that she'd be thrown into a rage and begin beating the life out of him ---Rylea's actions confused him now more than anything else had.

"I guess my birthday wish came true," she said to him sweetly, her smile melting him right there on the spot.

"How's that?"

Rylea's vivid blue eyes now turned to look up at his face and stared into Tadin's blue ones while simply saying, "I got to see you." Then she chuckled slightly while looking away and adding, "You kinda disappeared on all of us that night before I could even say anything to you."

Now thrown for a complete loop, the young man didn't know what to say. His mouth moved uselessly as no words would come out. What could he say? All his previous thoughts and accusations had been thrown out the window with just a five minute conversation with the girl he thought would hate him for the rest of his life. His blue eyes now searched her face for anything that would show him that she was playing him, but he found none. Now his heart ached more than ever to hold her close to him.

The dark haired girl's smile grew more as she read his thoughts, using her newest gift with pleasure. Chuckling at what she'd heard she asked, "Why would I hate you for the rest of your life?"

It took Tadin a minute or two to figure out what she had done and when he had a wry smile tugged at his lips. Shaking his head now, his eyes dropped to look at the ground as he replied, "I don't know. Just figured you would after all I did to you and your family."

Rylea took his hand in hers, bringing his eyes back up to look upon her face questioningly. She smiled at him and said, "I forgive you, Tadin." Those four little words, how simple they were, meant the whole world to the young man. They were the one thing he had hoped he'd hear from her but thought that he never would. Relief now swept over him, calming any fears he had had at one point in time and set him free along with it.

"Thank you, Rylea," he replied, a smile now lighting his face as his hand came up and gently cupped the side of her face. His thumb stroking her cheek lovingly.

The dark haired girl closed her eyes against the feel of his warm hand touching her face and her own hand came up from her side, laying softly against his own now. Smiling once again she opened her eyes and looked up into the face of the man she should hate but couldn't bring herself to while saying, "Call me, Lea."

Tadin smiled more now as he continued to just gently stroke her cheek with his thumb, content with just being this close to her. His eyes held hers, not wanting to look away from her, look away from those beautiful blue eyes that had pulled him in once before and now were doing it again.

"Hey, Lea!"

"Come on, girl!"

"We got cake and more pics to take!"

Voices shouting out to them from inside the house and then laughter following them brought the two back to reality as they looked away and chuckled softly. Rylea now looked back up to the blond haired boy, a small smile tugging at her lips as she said, "I gotta go. Party and all."

Tadin nodded, he understood but still didn't want to let her go. Running his hand through her soft but shaggy hair now before letting it drop back motionless at his side he asked, "Will I see you again?"

A wry smile slipped its way across Rylea's face as she stepped up closer to Tadin, taking the blond completely off guard as she tipped her head back and pulled his head down to meet hers, kissing him softly before replying, "I think you will." Winking at him, the girl then turned and walked back up the porch steps, stopping at the door to pick up the necklace he had left there earlier before walking back inside and shutting the door behind her form.

Tadin blinked a few times before a grin settled its way across his features and he turned himself, heading away from the house with its party and family, back down the long dirt driveway that lead to it. His black trench coat billowed out behind him in the wind as he walked, a smile now lighting the hybrid's face as he faded into the shadows being cast down by the trees swaying in the breeze.

A/N: It all comes to a close. Don't worry though, there will be another story to follow this one. Hopefully it will be as good or even better. It is already started so be looking for chapters to that up here pretty soon. I haven't decided on when I want to start doing that. Anyway, thanks go out to Rogue, LG and MorganRay. Thanks so much you guys for keeping with this story and helping me out along the way with everything you said about it. You guys rock!


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